Philosophy of Desire
by SarcasticEnigma
Summary: COMPLETE! Between birth and death there is only one thing – desire. Desire for life. Desire for love. Desire for everything good, the quintessential happy ending. And this is the source of all suffering. Pre&PostTrinity! KingOC! R&R!
1. Prologue: Two of a Kind

**_Disclaimer: _**I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**_Philosophy of Desire_**

Between birth and death there is only one thing – desire. Desire for life. Desire for love. Desire for everything good, the quintessential happy ending. And _this_ is the source of all suffering.

My desire was to just get through the day. After all, what is life but the same shit on a different day? Exactly. Life's a bitch, and then you die…well, some people anyway.

I thought my life ended when my brother and I were taken. Unfortunately, for me, it was just the beginning. That was the day I started to live. You'll see what I mean…

**Chapter 1: Two of a Kind**

Blade just watched as the vampire growled and lunged at the young woman. She ducked his grab, punched him in the face and kicked his leg. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground. Blade still watched, interested to see what she would do.

The vampire surged up, grabbed her and threw her against the wall. He grabbed her again but she pushed his arms away, punched him in the face, kneed him, then went around behind him and kicked him into the wall. He landed against a dumpster, turned and backhanded the woman, who stumbled forward. The vampire punched her again, picked her up and slammed her down on top of another dumpster. Blade growled, shaking his head at how the vampire was getting the upper hand. This woman tended to leave herself open, blind spots and the like.

'Another rookie,' he thought with disgust. But with the way she fought, even with the blind spot, that wasn't likely.

The woman reacted though, kicking the vampire and cart wheeled off the dumpster to kick him again, then again, and then yet again. On the final kick, he landed on his back among a pile of wooden boxes, which shattered. The woman reached behind her and pulled out a kitana, standing ready. As the vampire lunged up out of the boxes, she spun quickly, swinging her sword and decapitated him. The vampire burned into a familiar ash and she simply sheathed her sword.

"Couldn't just answer the question, could you," she muttered, staring at the pile of ash. "No, you had to fight. Stupid fucking suck head."

Someone suddenly appeared from behind a trash can and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her down to the ground. Blade still watched, wondering what she would do as both rose to their feet. It was another vampire; she'd forgotten that they tended to run in packs. He backhanded her, making her spin around and fly into a pile of garbage. As she straightened up, two more vampires appeared; the first one had a sword, and the other two had metal staves (staffs). As they began to circle her, twirling their weapons, she nodded off-handedly.

The vampire with the sword swung, but she ducked easily and spun. She punched him and ducked a staff thrust, kicking the other staff, ducked again and kicked the first staff-holder in the stomach. Ducking yet another swing, she kicked the second staff-holder twice, then ducked a swing from sword-holder. She blocked his punch before punching him in the face while holding his sword arm. Kicking him back, she grabbed one of the staves and pushed him away then deflected the other staff-holder.

"Well, this is fun," she commented, then performed a back flip that carried her over to the two staves.

Grabbing one staff, she thrust it into the closest vampire's stomach, deflected a sword thrust with it and kicked the sword-holder in the stomach. Blade still looked on, not even bothering to interrupt, as she jabbed the staff into the disarmed vampire's stomach again, ducking a thrust from the other staff, and kicked that vampire so he went spinning away.

She and the disarmed vampire grappled for his staff, making Blade want to laugh.

Finally, she got tired of tug-of-war and hit him in the face with the end of the staff, sending him down. She realized the staff had a silver tip and drove it through the down vampire's heart, turning him to ash. She dropped the staff and blocked an overhand sword thrust, punching the sword-holder and went down. She kicked the other staff-holder away, and picked up the staff again to face off with the sword-holder. She knocked the sword out of the knight's hand and pushed him to the ground. Jumping on top of him, she discarded the staff and held her sword to his throat.

"Now, you're gonna tell me everything what I want to know," she demanded, pressing the blade to it's throat. "Where's the Talos family hide out?"

"I'm not telling you anything," he spat at her, laughing a bit as he looked behind her. Before she even had time to react, she was pulled off the vampire and her sword fell from her hand. Blade decided now would be a good time to jump in, so he did just that.

He jumped from the roof and ran the vampire on the ground through his unbeating heart. Walking through the ash towards the other vampire, he noticed that he already had his fangs sunk into her. Her eyes were already glazing over as the vampire tossed her to the ground and ran at Blade. It was over quickly as the enemy was decapitated and burst into flame.

Walking over to the girl, he knelt down and checked her over. The vampire got her good; she'd turn within a day or two. Sighing heavily, she picked her up and walked out of the alleyway and towards the Charger. As he set her down in the passenger's seat, she looked at him a moment before passing out.

"Whistler's gonna kill me," he muttered, driving off towards the docks.

P.S.: Three pages total.


	2. Decisions, Decisions

**_Disclaimer: _**I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!Philosophy of Desire 

Thanks to Saxongirl345!

**Chapter 2: Decisions, Decisions**

"She's a flight risk; we can't keep her around, Blade," Whistler stated, his usual parental tone in place. He was cleaning his gun, as always, while Blade stood off to the side. His arms were crossed as he watched the old man work, his shades hiding his eyes, as always.

"Says who, you?" he retorted, stoic as always. Whistler turned ever so slightly to look at the hybrid.

"Yeah, me. Remember me, your partner? How the hell do you know she's not like that scuz bucket you had before?" Blade growled as Whistler mentioned Scud, the traitorous bastard. If there was one thing he hated more than Vampires it was Familiars.

"Because I checked. No marks, no trouble." That was that, even if it was a lie.

"Yeah, sure you did," Whistler retorted, shaking his head with a scoff and returned his focus to his gun. "Go check on her," he ordered and, with a low growl, Blade moved from Whistler to the gangplank of their new hideout, headed to the room where she was resting.

Blade didn't know much about her and, even though he despised strays, he had no choice but to take her. It had been two years since the death of the Reapers and Nyssa. He had been making the regular rounds when he found her. She'd always be at his haunts, as he learned after seeing her on five other occasions. She would fight off some suck heads, and always ask every Vampire about some Talos Clan. She was doing a pretty good job the first few times until tonight, until that one snuck up on her in the alleyway.

Whistler didn't know that Blade had brought her back after she was bit, or that Blade didn't have Karen's miracle cure on him at the time. Blade had just told him he found her in one of the clubs. He hated lying to the old man, but what could he do? After what happened with Karen, well…he didn't want that to happen again.

Walking into the bedroom, her room for the time being, he immediately sensed she was awake. She was awake and was waiting to attack him. After taking one more step, she struck she jumped onto his back and he swung her off without a second thought. She landed with a muffled crash onto the bed, and he crossed his arms as he stared down at her.

"You done?" She looked up at him and scowled. If his shades weren't in the way, she would've sworn there'd be some amusement in his eyes.

"I thought you were one of them. I guess I'm a little out of it, but I remember you," she replied, straitening herself out, and sat on the edge of the bed. "Where am I? What's your name?"

"Blade, and you're in my place, so try not to be too noisy."

"I guess I should call of the kegger than, huh?" she snapped impatiently. "I know who you are. He used to talk about you all the time, about how he and the others were gonna kill you." Blade just cocked his head with a raised eyebrow, and she couldn't tell if he was awaiting an explanation or just plain amused. "Easy, big fella, I'll explain later. I'm Maxine Doyle, but call me Max. What happened?"

"You were bitten. Pretty stupid, if you ask me." She just muttered it was a good thing she _didn't_ ask him. "Why were you hunting?"

"It's what I do; I've done it since high school and I won't stop now." He just stared at her in stunned silence. Since high school? She noticed the look of disbelief on his face and decided to explain. "A gang of Vamps raided my neighborhood; it was small so it was easy. A few tried to fight back, but it didn't work. Everyone but my brother, Xavier, and I were killed. I was sixteen; he was nineteen. We only escaped because we lucky…if being an open bar and turned is what you call lucky."

"You don't have a glyph," he commented, starting to see what Whistler said; he shouldn't trust her.

"Not anywhere you can see," she retorted with a sly smile. "It's just above my…oh, hell. I'll just show you," she mumbled and stood up. With her back turned to Blade, she picked up her hair and moved it aside for him to see her glyph. It rested at the base of her neck, just above her shoulders. Blade grimaced with a nod; that branding had to hurt. But, then again, all brandings usually did.

"Sire?" he asked shortly, but she understood what he meant.

"Name of Snowman," she stated, turned around to face him again, "but he ditched us when he was recruited by some Master Vamp; a pure blood or something. He was supposed to be trained to kill the Daywalker, you. But you already knew that, didn't you?" Blade gritted at her humorous tone. He _did_ remember Snowman though; he was the Chinaman of the Bloodpack who favored a sword like him. He died at a Reapers hand, like all the others – excluding Reinhardt.

"You got two choices, kid." She gawked at him a bit as he called her that. She was twenty-eight, she wasn't a kid! "You can either turn – again – or you can come downstairs and get the serum in you; give me the whole story."

""Serum"? You mean you have the cure?" He just nodded at her amazed tone. "Hell yes! Take me to it! Last thing I want is to be one of them – again," she added, mocking him. Blade just growled, starting to regret his decision to take her in.

P.S.: Two pages total.


	3. Tree Stump

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 3: Tree Stump**

Whistler watched as the two came down the stairs and took in the young woman. With her being unconscious and Blade pissing him off, per usual, he didn't get a chance to really examine her. Fiery red hair to her shoulders, bright green eyes, small frame and short of stature, just a little over Blade's shoulders. For some reason, this girl reminded him a bit of Abigail with her toned arms, looking ready for a kill – not that Blade knew about Abby.

"Aren't you gonna introduce me to your old man?" she asked, but Blade just looked between her and Whistler before walking over the table that held his serum and the last bit of the cure that Whistler replicated from Karen's notes.

"Abraham Whistler," he told her, scowling at Blade as he offered a hand to her.

"Max Doyle," she replied, shaking his hand.

"Over here, kid," Blade called crudely, and Max walked over to him, rolling her eyes and mumbling at being called a kid.

"What are you doing with that?" he asked curiously, but Blade didn't even look at him.

"Hope you're not afraid of needles," Blade commented, but Max muttered she'd always hated them. Whistler watched as Blade injected the mixture of silver nitrate and essence of garlic into her arm and turned his back to the two hunters, sighing. He knew he was right. "So, finish your story," Blade ordered calmly as he moved next to Whistler, who was paying attention now, and Max sat on a counter, unconsciously rubbing her arm.

"Xavier and I were the wandering vamps for about a year or so, feeding off the homeless and stray animals, until Rev found us. Rev was former priest from Mexico, but a gang of suckers trashed his parish and he got into the hunting game; moved all over the place. Been to every state from how much he talked," she explained, smiling lightly at the memories. Remembering whose company she was in though, she came to her senses and grew serious again with a light shake of her head. "He never told us why he took us in, but he did and took us to this woman he knew, a doctor, Karen something, and she cured us." Hearing that, a look past between Blade and Whistler, but Max didn't seem to notice. "After that, Rev was our father, our teacher, and our own personal priest until he died of lung cancer. Ironic, isn't it? He dusted vamps for the better part of his life, and he was taken down by Menthols."

"How long have you been human again?" Blade was a no nonsense kind of guy; Max was learning that quickly.

"About twelve years now." She looked around the room until she saw her things: her kitana, her guns, her ammo, everything. "I've been looking for my brother. A now dead contact of mine said that Xavier was back in the vampire community, that he'd been turned again. I need to find out if it's true. That's one reason why I've been hunting more and more. You see, after Rev died, we went our separate ways. Thought it was best." Max scoffed, shaking her head at how dumb they were.

"Any leads as to where this brother of yours might be?" Whistler asked, finally deciding to join the conversation.

"Supposedly, he's with a clan that goes by the name Talos, under the House of Chthon. It was a rumor my contact had heard so I don't know if it's legit. I don't know much, but like I said, just started to gather information when my man bit the big one."

"Two hunters are better than one," Whistler commented seriously. "You two should work together." Blade looked at Max a moment, who just looked confused, then he grabbed Whistler's arm and led him to a corner so they couldn't be heard.

"Are you out of your _damn_ mind, old man?" he hissed, but Whistler just remained calm.

"Maybe, but you sure as hell are if you're thinking of letting her back out there alone. You know what'll happen; she's got a mark – a scent – whoever owned her will come after her…or more lackey's."

"Her master died two years ago. One of the Bloodpack," he informed the old man, somewhat amused.

"Oh…" Whistler looked back at Max, who was know admiring his guns. Oh, yeah, she definitely reminded him of Abby. "Still, she should stay."

"You're saying you'd rather have her here with us than out there alone, even though she can take care of herself? You didn't even want her here in the first place."

"So, I changed my mind," he stated, the humor dripping from his voice, as he walked back over to Max and his guns. "The room up there is yours, just do as we say; hunt when we hunt, kill what we kill. No stragglers and no strays."

""Strays"? Oh, you mean like me?" she questioned sarcastically. He just nodded, and Blade soon returned to the little circle. "Hmph, I feel so special now," she joked lightly, crossing her arms defiantly.

"Don't take it personal. I could always call you tree stump," Whistler told her with a small smile.

"I'm not that short!" she protested, then sobered up and looked at Blade. "Am I?"

"Compared to him?" he asked, nodding to Blade. "Well, he's just so big."

"If you kids are done, we got work to do," Blade interjected. The hybrid gathered up his sword, then tossed Max hers. They needed information, and they needed it now.

And he knew just where to get it.

_**A/N: **_The Talos family House was never mentioned, not to my knowledge anyway, so I stuck them with Chthon since that's the only one they fit in out of the six: Chthon, Leichen, Armaya, Saqqara, Erebus, and Falsworth.

P.S.: Three pages total.


	4. Cam Almighty

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

Thanks to wannabanauthor and ShalBrenfan! You guys rock!

**Chapter 4: Cam Almighty**

"Tell me more about your years with Snowman," Blade demanded as they drove through the dark streets. He knew a few people were going to die tonight, but he had other plans. He only wished people would grow brains and wake up, to know better than to walk right into a vampire trap. Dream on, Whistler told him, dream on.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked casually, looking over at him and received what she knew was a glare through his sunglasses. "Okay, okay. Ask and you shall receive, big guy. Snowman, unlike most vampire masters, was generally a good guy. If you take out the constant feedings and beatings for insolence, he was okay."

"Beatings, huh? He sounds great; deserves an award."

"Don't get me wrong. It sucked, no pun intended, but he was a very…Zen kind of guy; followed a code of his, honor and what not. Of course, I thought that whole thing was just because he was Chinese." Blade quirked a small smirk that Max didn't even see.

"He's dead," he stated, and she looked over to him, confusion clearly written across her face. "Killed by the Reapers, a bad ass upgrade of the suck heads only killed by sunlight and UV rays." He saw her stare straight ahead, one hand out the window, as the silence reigned until she decided to ask the big question.

"How long ago?" And there it was.

"Two years," he stated simply and heard her sigh.

"Damn," she muttered, lowering her head a bit in what, he couldn't tell, was either shock or respect. "Um, during the year that Xavier and I were with him, he taught us how to fight. Both of us learned the sword, that being Snowman's specialty, but I was much better than Xavier; he was a gun kind of man. Snowman said he wanted to be sure his meals could take care of themselves during the day, or at the clubs if someone tried to move in on us. This was, of course, before he turned us."

"You never thought about trying to escape?" Blade looked over at her through the corner of his eyes and saw her shake her head. "Stupid kids."

"Hey!" she exclaimed, more offended now than she had been when he called her 'kid'. "We had a good deal! Food, shelter, training –"

"You were someone else's food for a year, and than were turned into the very thing that fed off you. Take away the good, just how stupid were you and your brother?" She just scoffed and leaned back in her seat again.

"You're the real sympathetic type, aren't you?" She turned her head to look out the window, only hearing his deep chuckle over the wind. "You know, you freed us." She looked over at him, sensing he was looking at her. "No, you did. When Snowman left us to fend for ourselves it was to train to kill you, like I said. So, in a way, you freed us."

"Don't."

""Don't", what?"

"You know what." She nodded and looked straight ahead, indeed knowing what he meant. He didn't want her gratitude or thanks; he didn't want it, need it, and he simply didn't care. "We're here."

"And where is "here"?" she asked as the car came to a sudden stop.

"Do you always ask this many questions?" he asked while stepping out of the car, Max following and leaning against her door, arms on the roof.

"Do you always _dodge_ this many questions?" He growled and walked towards the darkened building, and she followed him was a triumphant smirk.

Max decided to take the time to observe the building, just to see what she was getting herself into. She looked the building up and down with disgust. It was a bowling alley, a mother fucking bowling alley! Not _jus_t a bowling alley though, oh, no. It was a rundown and condemned bowling alley.

"You have the weirdest hang outs, Blade, I swear. Unused docks and an abandoned bowling alley? Fucking weird, big guy." Blade had noticed that she had nickname for him now and couldn't help but groan inwardly with disgust. He just _knew_ Whistler was going to love this woman.

Walking inside, the alley was empty but all the lights were on. There was no one around, but it was abandoned so why would there be? All of a sudden, some loud rock music kicked on, but was muffled by the walls of the lanes. Wherever it was, it was coming from behind that wall. The sound of something like a chainsaw soon followed, and Blade could see a faint light at the last lane, shimmering onto the waxed floor. He pointed to it and Max finally saw what he did.

"Oh, yeah, that's not creepy at all," she mused sarcastically, standing exactly where she was while Blade moved up to one of the lanes.

"You comin' or what?" he asked impatiently, and she nodded slowly.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure, why not? Today's a good day to travel around the dark tunnels of a bowling alley and die," she replied, and Blade shook his head with a growl and went back to walking up the lane, Max close behind. "So, um, what are we doing here, exactly are we gonna find here?"

"Information."

"Anything else, like a crazy ax murderer, or circus freaks?" Blade stopped dead in his tracks and looked back at her. Max just shrugged and looked at him incredulously. "WHAT! It could happen!"

He shook his head and continued walking the slippery lane until he reached the end, where the pins would normally rest. Blade ducked under the low wall and looked around the dark tunnel. There was one light, and that was flickering at the end of the tunnel. Somebody was back there, working on something. When Max came through, he simply nodded towards the light and started walking again. He distinctly heard Max sigh behind him, but didn't stop.

As they reached the end of the tunnel, the music grew louder and Max identified it as Linkin Park. They walked around a corner to find a small-heightened Asian man with long black hair to his shoulders, baggy gray cargo pants, Army boots, a dirty white t-shirt covered in oil and grease. The only thing you couldn't make out on this guy was his eyes, which were covered by thick welding goggles as he worked. At least now they knew what the light had been – this guy, welding.

"CAM!" Blade bellowed, startling the man welding. He jumped, dropping his tools and stumbled backwards as he tried to remove his goggles, but fell onto the floor instead. Max walked over to the workstation, picked up a tiny remote and hit the power button, turning off the music. With a pained sigh, Cam pulled his goggles to his neck and blinked up at the massive figure of Blade hovering over him. "Having fun?"

"Oh, yeah, sure! You scaring the shit out of me is exactly my idea of fun," Cam retorted, taking the hand Blade offered him. Blade pulled him up so fast that Cam stumbled again, and Blade had to move away as Cam stumbled into his worktable. "That was fun, too. You know, Blade, you definitely know how to show a guy a good time!"

"I need information," Blade stated, getting straight to the point.

"Yeah, sure, no problem, 'cause I wasn't doin' anything important," Cam replied in irritation. "Never – NEVER – sneak up on a man while he's handling a welder, B!" he shouted, holding his unlit welder directly at Blade's face.

"Get that out of my face, or I'll shove it up your ass," he warned, and Cam immediately threw it onto the table with a loud crash.

"I-I-I-I'm sorry," he said, backing away from Blade slowly, hands raised in defense. "I meant no harm. And, uh, one more thing – who is the supreme hottie," he asked, pointing at Max, who raised an eyebrow at him. "She's not with you, by any chance, is she? Hello! I am Cam Lee, but you may call me Cam Almighty for I am a genius! And you are?"

"A former vampire," Max stated, crossing her arms threateningly at Cam's hopeful tone.

"EH!" he exclaimed, shivering in disgust as he walked away, towards a group of six or seven computer screens. "Why are all the good ones blood sucking fiends?" he asked himself.

"Cam," Blade said firmly.

"Yeah?"

"Information," he repeated.

"Oh, right, sorry, man. What kind do you need?" he asked as he sat down in his rotating chair.

"A man, possible vampire," he replied, walking over to him with Max right next to him.

"Name?"

"Xavier Doyle."

Cam nodded and typed the name into his databank. If you wanted information on anyone in the vampire community – leader, lackey, and known haunts – then Cam had it. As far as Blade was concerned, no one – besides him and Whistler – knew more about the underworld life than Cam. He had it all, and it was both a good thing and bad thing. If anyone in the vampire world knew about his data bank, Cam was dead.

"Uh…nothing," he said, leaning back with a sigh. Max shook her head and turned away, back towards both men. "You know anything about this guy that might help?"

"What was the name of that clan you heard he was with," Blade asked, turning to Max.

"Talos. My guy said it was Talos," she replied, and noted on Cam's shocked face.

"Whoa, hold the phone, honey," he began, earned a glare from Max. "If we're talking the Talos Clan, than you might as well forget it. This guy of yours is either dead, dying, or a fucking Familiar for them to fed off of. Forget him. Forget him and run."

"Not a fucking chance in hell!" she retorted. "This is you big fucking contact? What a waste of fucking time," she stated, stalking out of the workshop the way she came.

"Well, ain't she a peach," Cam commented sarcastically, walking back over to his workspace and welder. "Where'd you pick _her_ up?"

"Alleyway," Blade replied walking past him.

"Oh, the usual spot," he mused, putting his goggles back on.

"After she was bitten," he added, and Cam looked up at him in shock only to find the hybrid gone.

"Yeah, that's not creepy in the least," he commented before turning his music back on, Linkin Park blaring through his sound system once more. "Sometimes, I hate my job," he said to himself and went back to his welding.

_**A/N:**_ Cam is based loosely off _of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda_ character Harper. I love him!

P.S. Five pages total.


	5. Growing Up

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 5: Growing Up**

The ride back to the docks was silent.

Blade didn't bother to look at Max the whole way back, and Max would only look out the window as she bite at her thumb. She was completely distracted, and that was pissing her off even more than she already was. She didn't get distracted! Her focus was always clear and on the hunt, simple at that. But, now, with the new information regarding Xavier, she didn't know what to think at her. Her clear mind was fogged up, and there she was without a fan to blow it all away.

"You're back early," Whistler commented at the Charger pulled in and the two hunters stepped out. "How'd it go?" Max growled quietly and brushed past him, charged up the steps and into her new room, slamming the door behind her. Whistler looked from the door to Blade before raising his eyebrows. "Didn't go well?"

"No," Blade replied shortly and walked over to the gun rack.

"The short circuit didn't have any information for her?" he asked in both curiosity and shock, following the man he raised.

"He said that she should forget him and run," he replied. "This Talos Clan must be pretty dangerous to have Cam shaking in his boots."

"He's afraid of all vampires," he argued. "He's a jumpy little bastard. Has been since the day we met him, and he always will be. I'm shocked he's not dead yet."

"Yeah, well, he said that her brother is either dead, dying, or an open bar," he added. "My guess, based on her contact and Cam's, he's probably been turned."

"Another suck head on the prowl," Whistler commented with a shake of his head. "And it sounds like he's moving with the big boys. He could be trouble."

"When is there not trouble? We'll deal with it when the time comes," Blade told him testily.

"All of us?"

Both men turned to find Max standing behind them, arms crossed and face clearly dead set on them not dodging this particular question.

"All of us," Blade answered and walked past her and back to his Charger, his two guns reloaded.

"One big happy fucking family," Whistler added, pulling out a cigarette and inhaling the toxic fumes deeply. "Welcome aboard," he told her and she smiled.

"So, when do I get my own set of kick ass guns like him?" she asked, walking over to him with a coy smile.

"When you grow up," he retorted, blowing smoke in her face. Max coughed and waved the smoke out her personal space.

"First off, that's just rude. Second, can I have one?" She held out her hand expectantly and he smiled as he handed his pack and lighter over to her. "Thanks, old man."

"You sound just like him," he commented, watching as she lit up.

"Like who, Blade?"

"No, someone else I know."

"Who?"

"You aren't ready to know that," he told her, snatched his cigarettes from her and walked away.

"When will I be ready?" she called after him.

"When you grow up!"

P.S.: Two pages total.


	6. Family

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

Thanks to wannabanauthor! You rock!

**Chapter 6: Family**

Max bounded down the steps and walked towards the back room. Whistler was there, working on something for her and Blade with his old time music blaring through the sound system. He had a cigarette in one hand and a blowtorch in the other. Max could've laughed at the sight. Whistler, who could've been her grandfather – who really should've been a sweet, retired grandfather – was melting silver into bullets and stakes.

"Hey, Whistler," she greeted, walking over to him with a little bounce in her step. "Where's Blade?"

"Out, getting more juice from Daniel," he replied, and she nodded.

Daniel was one of their handlers, who kept the supplies needed to make Blade's serum and the cure. The group didn't use the cure much, but they did come across a few people on the hunt that needed it every once and awhile so they made a stock and carried a little with them whenever when they went out. One of those people had been Cam.

Blade had been right when he thought the genius' database was going to get him in trouble. It did, and him and Max found him in a puddle of his own blood on the floor of his workshop a month ago. He lived long enough to joke about his situation, and tell them two very important things. That he regretted living his life the way he had, and that he had a younger brother in Detroit, Shen, who was a computer genius as well. Not to mention the fact that he knew all about Blade, and was compiling all the information he could on the vampire clans in his area.

Cam died in Max's arms. Even though she wasn't too fond of the man, particularly for his jibes and witty quips about her and her brother, that didn't stop her from crying when he died. Since Cam's death, Whistler had been hitting the streets when Blade and Max went hunting. Whistler was the one gathering information and, most of the time, it was total bullshit. The little family of three was pretty much flying blind.

"Let me ask you something, Whistler."

"Shoot."

"What's Blade's real name?"

"What?" he asked, stopping dead in his tracks to look at her as if she was crazy.

"What's his real name?" she repeated easily, ignoring his shock.

"Why do you care?" he asked impatiently, wiping his hands clean on a stray rag and walking away from her.

"Well, I've been with you guys for seven months now," she stated. "We're family, right?" Whistler looked over at her expectant face and smiled slightly.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess you are," he replied, and she smiled at him. "This family's gone down hill," he added quickly, saving his image as a hard ass, and she rolled her eyes.

"Ha-fucking-ha, old man," she retorted bitterly. "Seriously! B hardly says anything to me besides the usual insults on the way I hunt. Speaking of which, I get the same shit from you."

"You get it because you deserve it," he told her simply, smirking as she growled in frustration.

"Back to the point," she gritted through her teeth, "I don't know anything about either of you except you like ashing vamps as much as I do! You guys know my story; it's only fair that I know yours, too! So, what are your stories?"

Whistler sighed and stopped what he was doing, setting his set of tools on the table. Again he looked at Max and she had an anxious and expectant look on her face. He wasn't sure if he should tell her the truth, but he'd told Karen after knowing her for about three days. Max had been with them for seven months, just like she said, and she was right. Both him and Blade knew all about her and she knew nothing about them. He hated that she was right, that it wasn't fair.

Damn girl.

"Fine," he caved with a sigh and walked back over to her. "I had a family once, a wife and daughter. A drifter came calling one night; turned out to be a vampire. He toyed with 'em first, made me decide what order he'd kill 'em in. I've been killing ever since."

"Oh, I'm sorry I brought it up," she said immediately, very sympathetic since she knew the feeling of losing family.

"Don't worry about, Max. I've told it before, I don't mind telling it again," he assured her quickly when he in fact _did_ mind telling her; he didn't enjoy thinking about his family, much less talking about them.

"And you found Blade, took him in and trained him, right? You made his serum?"

"Pretty much."

"And what about him?" Whistler groaned inwardly. When was she going to stop?

"I think I'll leave it up to him to tell you or not," he told her, silently warning her to not say anything else.

"He won't tell me shit and you know it, Whistler, so spill!" she argued harshly. Whistler stared at her and she sighed, running a hand through her hair. "All I want is to know his real name," she said calmly.

"Why do you care so much?" he asked curiously, looking at her in a new light.

"I don't know. I just do," she said with a shrug, diverting her eyes to the floor. He noticed the way she was tapping her foot behind her and biting the inside of her cheek. "Look," she began with a sigh, "I already know about how he became the Daywalker. Every vampire is told that story, and it's really not the kind you forget so easily."

Whistler still didn't say anything. He didn't even look at her! He just grabbed his favorite shotgun and started polishing it.

"Whistler, come on, man!" she shouted exasperatedly, hitting her palms on the table. Her actions were so amusing to him that he couldn't help but laugh a little. "He was born, right, so he must have been given a normal, human name. Blade is an alias. So, what his real name? Give it up, Whistler," she demanded calmly, leaning on the table with both hands.

"Eric," he told her with a sigh and a hung head.

"'Eric'?" she echoed with a raised eyebrow.

"Eric Brooks," he elaborated.

"'Eric Brooks'," she repeated, letting the name roll off her tongue. "Sounds like the kind of name a lawyer would have or something."

"Wrong kind of bloodsucker, Max," he joked tonelessly.

"Damn straight!"

P.S.: Three pages total.


	7. Nice Little Pep Talk

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing! 

Thanks to ShalBrenfan and LionQueen!

**Chapter 7: Nice Little Pep Talk**

Max stood at the edge of the docks, looking out into the sunrise. Her thoughts were trailing back to Xavier and the clan he'd joined. The Talos family had found him and a woman, Danica, had turned him. She made him her liaison to other vampires clans and families, Pureblood and not. She knew she should have killed him when she had the chance, but she didn't. Her and the men had been on a reconnaissance mission two days ago, and she found him feasting on some Goth girl in a back alley of one of many vampire clubs. She wasn't able to kill him and it was as simple as that. Max knew she had been more than beyond lucky when Whistler showed up.

"_Come with me, Max," he begged languidly, walking closer to her. Max was frozen, unable to move and breathe, much less talk. "Come back to me."_

"_Why are you doing this to me, Xavier?" she asked quietly, her voice coming out weak and breathless. Xavier just chuckled, his newly acquired fangs barring out over his lips in a charming smile._

"_Because I love, baby sister," he replied simply, reaching out a hand and caressing her face. _

_Max closed her eyes tightly, leaning into his hand as she bit her lower lip. She could feel the tears in her eyes, and she could feel her heart racing. She knew she should be driving a silver stake into his heart, but it felt so good to have him close again. Xavier gently pushed her hair back over her shoulder and leaned in. Max was shocked to find herself turning her head to the side, giving him more of her neck willingly._

"_We'll never be apart again," he promised and hissed as he opened his mouth wider._

"_Hey there, sweetheart. Mind if I cut in?"_

_Max's eyes snapped open at the familiar voice of Whistler. She saw the old man standing behind Xavier, who turned to attack him._

"_NO!" she shouted at him, grabbing his arm, but he pushed her back into the wall. She heard a gun shot and opened her eyes to see Whistler on his back and Xavier running out of the alley and into the night._

"_You okay, tree stump?" he asked her, sitting up and breathing heavy._

"_Y-Yeah, I think so," she replied shakily._

"_Good. Now," he began, rising to his feet with a grunt and limped over to her, "don't let that shit happen again, you got me?" Max looked from his eyes to his outstretched hand, unable to tell if he was mad or concerned._

"_I got you," she replied, taking his hand. "Whistler?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Don't tell Eric."_

If Whistler hadn't showed up when he did, she would have been turned – again – by her own brother. That was a little closer than she wanted to be with him, ever. It didn't matter though. She'd heard from Shen earlier that morning, and he told her that he'd heard about a new Vampire in the city, working for someone called Sciver. He said the new guy fit the profile that Cam had sent him of her brother. That settled it. Xavier was out of Los Angeles and in Detroit. Talos wised up.

Sighing deeply, Max closed her eyes and looked as though she was trying to fall asleep. Blade, she noticed over time, seemed to take this pose many times. Of course, he was sitting indoors, behind the locked door of his room, and she was standing outside, in plain view of any passerby. She probably looked crazy.

"It wasn't your fault, Max."

She turned her head ever so slightly to look over her shoulder. There he was. The old man she'd been thinking about himself. Max sighed again, for what felt like that millionth time that day, and turned hr eyes back to the sunrise.

"You can say that all you want, Whistler, but I know it was," she replied. "I never should have let him go. We never should have separated. I screwed up."

"I'm not saying you didn't, but that don't mean it was your fault," he argued as he limped to stand next to her. "You did your best. That's all anyone else can ask of you."

"Not you. Not Eric," she retorted calmly, noting how he was staring into the sky like her. "The both of you, from the moment he brought me back, have been on my case about everything. From the way I hunt, to the way I fight, and even the way I talk and act – everything. You guys don't _ask _for my best; you _demand _perfection."

"If we seemed tough on you, Max, it's 'cause we don't want you to end up dead. Or undead, for that matter," he added quickly. "You're a good kid, and a you got great potential. I won't lie about that, but I _am_ sorry that things had to play out this way."

"Well, we're all sorry about something. I'm sorry I couldn't kill my brother. I'm sorry you couldn't kill him and had to save my sorry ass in the process."

"HEY!" he barked, snapping at her to look at him. Max just rolled her eyes and scoffed quietly, arms crossed and thoroughly not in the mood to listen to him anymore than she had. She ignored Whister, and he didn't like that one bit so he forced her to look at him by grabbing her arm.

"Hey! What the fuck!" she protested, but his grip only tightened. "Oh, my God! You are freakishly strong!"

"True, but that's beside the God damn point," he stated. "And now that I have your undivided attention, I'm gonna give you the best piece of advice you're ever gonna get. Stop wallowing in self-pity, you stupid self-absorbed brat, and grow up! Act your age, God damn it!"

"Is this suppose to motivate me?" she asked uncertainly, looking at him in surprise. "'Cause, let me just tell you, old man, you suck! Maybe you could try a nicer tone and be, I don't know, less insulting. Just a thought."

"Christ, you really do sound just like him," he mumbled despairingly, rubbing his face tiredly as he released her arm.

"Like who?" she asked suspiciously, remembering he'd said those words to her many times in the past.

"No one," he replied. That was always his answer. "Now, listen. You're a damn good fighter and smart, too. You got what it takes to live through this war, _if_ you stop blaming yourself for every God damn thing that goes wrong!"

"Easy for you to say," she countered angrily. "When your family died, you got to kill the bastard that got them! Me? I couldn't kill my brother and I haven't been able to get near the fucking cock sucking bitch that turned him! I nearly got bitten and you had to save me! You had to clean up after me! I'm not…I'm no good at this anymore, Whistler," she admitted in defeat, starting to calm down as she sat down on one of the posts. "I'm crashing."

"You're good, tree stump," he told her firmly, and she smiled a bit. "Trust me, you're good."

"Not good enough," she retorted quickly, and Whistler sighed this time. "You should've just let Xavier kill me."

"Okay, that's it! I can't tell you you're good anymore if your not gonna open your ears and listen; not my style. So, you got two choices. One, give up, leave, and get yourself dead as soon as you hit the city tonight. Or two…go see a group of friends of mine, and let them help you," he offered, saying the second hesitantly.

""Friends"?" she echoed with an amused smile as she looked up at him. "_You_ have friends beside B and I? I'm hurt, old man!"

"Yeah, friends. Remember what those are?" he questioned bitterly, starting to grow impatient. "They're a pack of hunters; call themselves the Nightstalkers."

""Nightstalkers"?" she questioned and scoffed with an eye roll. "Sounds like a bad Saturday morning cartoon, or some cheap ass comic book," she mused and smiled when he smirked.

"Yeah, well, they're pretty good at what they do. Blade doesn't know about 'em yet, but I'll tell him, eventually," he said lightly.

"Eventually meaning?"

"Whenever the hell I want!"

"Keeping secrets from the big man? Not the smartest move, old man." Max shook her head, wagging her finger at him teasingly. Whistler decided to ignore her.

"Now, you're gonna go to them – don't worry, they'll know you're coming – and they'll…well, you'll find out when you get there," he told her and started to limp away. "The choice is yours, Max!" he called over his shoulder. As he walked away, he started to count.

Max sat there for a moment, thoughtful once again. Whistler was just looking out for her, so what harm could it be meeting these Nightstalkers of his?

"Hey, Whistler!" she called out. Whistler stopped, smirking proudly as he turned around. Max had gotten up from her post and was jogging to catch up with him. "Where do I find these friends of yours?"

"I thought you'd see it my way," he stated with a smile and proceeded to give her directions to the Nightstalkers base, the aptly nicknamed Honeycomb Hideout.

_**A/N: **_I know I skipped over Xaiver, but that's only because he's not a major character. Not in this part, and not so much in the sequel. Yes, there is a sequel. I've already started working on it. Xaiver will be in it, but not for very long. Sorry.

P.S.: Four pages total.


	8. Meeting the Rookies

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 8: Meeting the Rookies**

Max walked up to the deserted docks in confusion. She looked down at the piece of paper Whistler had given her, checked over the directions written there, and looked around her once more. These docks were definitely the place. What was it lately with hunters setting up shop at docks?

Grabbing the keys out of the ignition of her pitch-black motorcycle, which Whistler customized with a shot of nitro, she started walking towards the building. Max was very aware of the cameras on the roof, following her every move. Perhaps this place wasn't as deserted at she originally thought. The question as to whether or not she was alone would have to wait until she was inside. After that, she could properly access the situation and make sure Whistler hadn't sent her to some vampire nest. She wouldn't put it past him to "help" her in that twisted sense.

With that in mind, she thought it best to go in the back. Max moved along the docks until she found a long set of stained windows in the back. Smiling, she climbed up the various crates and made her way inside the building as quietly as possible. The window had led her directly to the rood, a high vaulted ceiling with a series of bar, poles, and ramps. If she fell, which she was certain that she wouldn't, she'd be killed on contact from the concrete floor. That, or the unusually placed basketball court.

She was going to kill Whistler.

"Oh, this is gonna suck," she told herself as she looked at the bars grimly. "I haven't had to do this kind of shit since Snowman!"

At the sound of voices, Max leaned over the ramp to look down and saw two men pass under her. One was a tall, muscular African, who Max thought Blade would probably look like if he was a normal human. The other was a short, stout Caucasian. He looked like a _Star Trek_ geek to her, but she knew from experience that bad things could come in unexpected packages. Sighing, Max looked back up at the bars. She found the perfect one to start off with and had one foot on the railing when she heard a gun cock to her left.

"Wander off the beaten path on the way to grandma's house, Red?"

The tone of the man was one of both humor and sarcasm. His joke, on the other hand, made Max roll her eyes and look over at him. If she was stunned by how gorgeous he was, she didn't show it. He had a mess of choppy brown hair with an even messier but trimmed beard and mustache to match. Baggy cargo pants with gun holsters strapped on either side, combat boots, and a plain white wife beater. The gun he had aimed at her head and his dark brown eyes rounded out the bad-boy package quite nicely.

"There is a door, you know, in case you wanna go out and come back in the polite way," he told her with a quick, mocking smile.

"I'm quite comfortable where I am, thanks," she retorted easily. "You?"

"I'm good," he replied with a slight shrug. "I could stay up here all day."

"That a fact?" she asked with an impressed and challenging tone.

"No. I have to go make breakfast."

"It's almost twelve," she told him, narrowing her eyes confusedly.

"Exactly! I have to hurry," he replied seriously.

"Well, then, I'd hate to make you late, so…"

Before he could even react, Max kicked his gun out of his hand and over the edge of the railing. While he was mourning his loss, she dove off the railing, grabbing onto her earlier bar of choice.

"Damn it!" he cursed as he grabbed his second gun, and started to shoot at her. The only problem with his plan was that she was swinging to other bars as if she was some sort of gymnastics athlete. "Intruder's up here!" he called down below, ceasing his gunfire since, one, he wasn't hitting her and two, she was only getting further away from him. "And she's a fucking monkey!" he added, cocking his to watch her. Max smiled at his words but continued to swing away.

As she was making her escape, her attacker ran down to the ramp and back to the ground level towards his partner, Abigail Whistler. She was a true warrior and hellion, as he liked to call her, and she already had her bow in hand, ready to fight.

"Where'd she go, King?" she asked, cocking her bow and looked up.

"Um…I don't know exactly," he admitted, and Abigail lowered her bow to give him a withering look. "What? I was waiting for you and that mighty ass kicking bow of yours to shoot her down!" Abigail sighed and trained her eyes towards the ceiling once more. Max was nowhere in sight. Growling in frustration, Abigail looked back at King, hands on her hips. "Okay, this might be my fault."

"You think?" she retorted. "Dex, anything on the cameras?" she shouted down below.

"Nothing here, boss lady," he called back, shaking his head from his spot with Sommerfield and Zoë. "Monkey girl must've left!"

""Monkey girl"," King chuckled, but it faded when Abigail glared at him. "It was funny. I laughed. I'm terribly sorry for letting Monkey Girl get away."

"Stop calling me Monkey Girl, please."

King pulled out his gun and Abigail raised her bow again as they turned to find Max walking in through the front door.

"Where the _fuck _did you go?" King asked gruffly, gun still aimed at her head.

"I decided to take your advice and come in through the front," she replied, walking towards them. "You guys aren't a nest, so the old man didn't steer me wrong like I thought. Are you the Nightstalkers?"

"How do you even know about us?" Abigail asked, lowering her bows to her side.

"Whistler told me," she replied simply and King proceeded to holster his gun.

"_You're _Max?" he asked, eying her up and down skeptically. "You're Max," he repeated with an appreciative nod.

"Down boy," Abigail told and stepped towards Max with an outstretched hand. "We were told you were coming, just not that you were a girl. I'm Abigail Whistler."

""Whistler"?" she echoed, shaking her hand. "Any relation to the old man?"

"His daughter."

"He told me his family was murdered."

"They were. He had me later, out of wedlock."

"Oh," she said, accepting that answer. "And you are?" she asked, crossing her arms as she looked at King with a cross of annoyance and disgust on her face.

"Hannibal King at your service," he greeted, sticking out his hand but she only stared at it. King looked between the two cross armed women and pulled his hand back, shoving them into his pockets and shifting on his feet. "Heh, well, this is awkward."

"Sorry. Forgive me if I'm not too welcoming to the man who aimed a gun at my head," she stated. "If you were a Vamp, you'd be ash."

"HEY! You're the one that broke into our place!" he argued.

"Oh, what are you, two?" Abigail stifled her laughter as she pat King's shoulder before smiling at Max.

"Welcome to Headquarters. Call me Abby," she told her. "Let me give you the tour."

As Max and Abigail walked away from King, he stood there, dumbfounded. Hedges and Dex walked up to him, patting his shoulders as they past him. King looked around and saw Sommerfield walk away with Zoë, shaking her head as she went. Sighing deeply, King slowly walked up to the blind technician/mother.

"This new girl, she hates me, doesn't she?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied with a nod.

"No worries," he said, moving to follow Abigail and Max. "I'll wear her down with the old Hannibal charm soon enough." Sommerfield just scoffed in disbelief behind him.

P.S.: Four pages total.


	9. Dare to Move

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

Thanks to wannabanauthor and Fairy-Tales123!

**Chapter 9: Dare to Move**

Max was trying not to hit King, and he was trying not to hit or hit on her. Despite her annoyance with King, she couldn't help thinking she'd met her match. For every witty remark she had, he always had a comeback. It had been three months since she met the Nightstalkers, which Blade still had no idea about, and she had seen every inch of the headquarters except for one place: the weapons room, Hedges' lab.

It was a trust issue which prevented her from seeing it. So, after all those months of earning their trust, and successfully withstanding King's flirting, she stood in a room full of weapons that she couldn't use without Hedges, Abby, or King's explicit permission. King seemed to enjoy the fact that he held that power over her, and flaunted it whenever he had the chance. What he didn't know was that he actually had no say at all.

Still, Max wasn't sure which Whistler she'd be killing first at the end of the day. The old man for basically forcing her to meet King, or Abby for leaving her alone with King and Hedges in this very moment.

"Not many weapons," Max commented, examining the three wide tables in the lab.

"We're low budget," King replied casually, leaning against the wall. Max walked around one of the tables and picked up a garden saw.

"Does this actually do any good?" she asked with a quirked eyebrow, not really believing it would be useful. Just what was Whistler thinking, sending her to a bunch of rookies who used a garden saw as a weapon?

"Silver capped," Hedges explained, snatching it out of her hands and setting it down gently, as if it were his baby. "It's more of a prototype, really," he added sheepishly.

"I told you, we don't have the financial resources," King joked, and Max narrowed her eyes at him. Hedges' moved away from Max and to another table, where he picked up a small device that looked a miniature blowtorch and handed it to her.

"Press the button," Hedges instructed. Max did so, and a red laser streamed out. She looked over at King, who shrugged with a smirk, than back at Hedges with a raised eyebrow, not impressed in the least. "Press it again," he instructed in mild frustration and excitement. With an annoyed sigh, Max did as she was told and repressed the button, and with stunned that a sliver of UV light stream out.

"Oh," she toned, comprehending, and passed the UV flashlight/laser torch back to Hedges, who deactivated it. "Low budget, huh?" she directed to King.

"Well, we spent everything on the walkie talkies and the cameras. That's why the computers look like they were hijacked from the 70s," he retorted. "You know how it is, right?" Hedges sighed, closing his eyes at the man's mocking tone.

"I'm out of here," he stated and practically ran out the room, leaving the two hunters all alone. "You two are far too much alike!"

"Well, that was rude," King stated and pushed himself off the wall. "Over here, we have our finest collection of water guns," he explained as he walked past Max and to a cabinet. She thought he had been joking, but when he opened it she knew he wasn't.

"Now I know I've seen it all," she stated amusedly. "What is that, holy water?"

"Not just holy water, but silver nitrate and essence of garlic," he explained. "We're a triple threat kind of group." King then moved to the table with Hedge's computer, and picked up what looked like a bow without the string.

"What the hell is that?" she asked.

"The UV Arc," he explained with a big grin, and activated Abigail's favorite weapon – besides her bow. The empty space were string was meant to be was filled with a vibrating stream of UV light. "Hedges is working on a way to downsize this bad boy. You know, turn it into a Transformer so it's more than meets the eye."

"I suppose the rest of the money will go into that, too?" she commented. "I could definitely use this," she added, nodding her head approvingly.

"Half the power of the sun," he explained, holding it out to her. Max hesitated a moment before taking in her hands. She swished it around in front of her a bit before moving it around her head with one or two complicated maneuvers. "Great, just what I need. Another woman, who can kick my ass," he stated, taking the arc back from her.

"Maybe it'll do you some good," she told him

"You could have the Arc, if you like, as payment for tomorrow night," he told her straight faced.

""Payment"?" she echoed confusedly.

"For when you sleep with me," he replied with a dubious smirk. Max narrowed her eyes, and in that instant King knew he had made a mistake. All of sudden, her foot came out of nowhere and collided with the side of his head. "OW! Okay, that was just rude!" She scowled and did a roundhouse kick to his face, and he went down to the floor with a thud. Max stood over him a moment before crouching down to stare at him as he sat up on his elbows. "Yep, I was right," he stated, groaning in pain. "Another woman who can kick my ass."

"Kick your _sorry_ ass, you mean," she corrected, standing up again. King looked up at her, a charming smile on his face, and held one hand out to her.

"Come on," he begged childishly, "help a brother out!"

"Ugh, only if you never say that again," she replied, and he nodded. Against her better judgment, Max helped him up. Unfortunately, he used his feet to propel himself into her and sandwich her between him and a table.

"You know, we've got time to fill before you have to head on back to the big man," he mused, face still close to hers. "Why not head down to our little training gym?" Before she could even open her mouth to say a word, he was walking away from her and out of the lab. "Besides, your snap kick could use some work," he called back teasingly.

"WHAT! No, it doesn't!" she shouted in offense, jogging to catch up with him. King just smirked at her.

"So touchy!"

"Oh, I'll show you touchy!"

"Is that a promise?"

"Go stun gun yourself, fuckhead."

"Ask nicely, and we'll see," he said as they entered the room.

"What do you mean my snap kick needs work?" she asked defensively, but he could hear the curiosity in her voice. "My snap kick is fine!"

"Keep telling yourself that, sugar butt, but I just happened to notice that, right before that nice little roundhouse and before I fell on my deliciously luscious ass, that you swung off balance when you brought your leg back," he told her. "It wouldn't really matter if you were fighting a human, but a vampire would know how to exploit it and – BAM! Before you know it, you're a midnight fucking snack, a Vampiric Nutter Butter, and full-on fucking dead."

"How colorful," she mumbled, cringing at his description.

"I know. I'm special like that," he explained cheerily, and pulled her over to a large punching bag. "Now, start kicking and, if you need me, I'll be in the kitchen making breakfast. Have fun, sugar butt," he told and walked away. Max watched him leave the room completely and sighed.

"Ass wipe," she muttered and focused her attention on the bag, starting to kick it.

King, being the clever bastard that he was, had lied to her. He wasn't going to make breakfast; he was really watched Max. He watched in fascination as her body shook out when she kicked then returned to the tightly coiled position. She kicked out again, with her hands in the left guard position, signaling she was right-handed, and he heard her curse in frustration. She finally realized what he had been talking about, and he smiled in success. Finally, his latest opponent was taken down a notch. The next instant, she had turned and flung something towards him. King realized it was a knife, and it hit the wood just beside his head.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" he shouted at her. "You almost hit me, you crazy bitch!"

"I don't like being watched by some fucked up perv when I train!" she snapped.

"Maxie, sweetheart, can't we talk about this? Seriously, honey," he said, walking towards her calmly, "I'm having issues with our lack of communication skills right now."

"You're going to have an issue with my foot up your scrotum if you don't leave me the hell alone," she retorted, hands on her hips.

"Or maybe you could try and snap kick me again," he offered, deliberately taunting her. Max's shoulders tensed and his smirk grew. "Look, don't take it the wrong way," he began, hands held up in way of a peace offering, "but you are really shitty at it."

"Oh, don't worry, King. I don't take it the wrong way at all," she assured him kindly, but discretely grabbed a second knife from the waist of her pants behind her back. As soon as she pulled it out, King's hands were up in defense again. She started to walk towards him, and he started to back away. "Than again, I've never been one for constructive criticism. I think I'll castrate you."

"Back up and drop it, or I swear I will snap kick you, I don't care if I'm breaking the honor code of no hitting women," he proclaimed, and she looked at him in disbelief.

"You really know how to make a bad situation worse, don't you?"

"Yeah," he shrugged, "kinda my strong point." Max sighed, and placed the knife back where she got it.

"Okay, fuckhead, make it better.

**_A/N: _**I feel really bad about posting this the day before I go on vacation, but I hope to come back in a week to reviews. "

P.S.: Four pages total.


	10. A Lesson in Manners

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

Thanks to SkyWarner! 

**Chapter 10: A Lesson in Manners**

"Okay, fuckhead, make it better."

King had to smile as he sauntered over to her. Max may have been one pissed off woman, to him anyway, but she knew when she was doing something wrong. And, as much as she hated to admit it, she need help if she was going to improve and she didn't dare ask Blade. He'd probably think she was crazy or something, and there was no way Whistler could help her. Like it or not, King was her only option. God, how Max hated her life as he moved around and placed his hands on her body, positioning her into the proper position of the kick. His hand brushed her thigh, and was expecting two reactions: a shudder, or for her to bite his head off.

"Keep your fucking hands to your fucking self!" she snapped, and slapped his hand away.

King grinned. He couldn't resist. He loved throwing off strong women, whether he was attracted to them or not. Danica was a fine example of the latter. As he ran his eyes over her body and face, he came to the conclusion that Max was attractive, without a doubt. Her red hair falling onto her bare shoulder, her green eyes hard with concentration. Her chest wasn't that impressive, but substantial like Abigail's. The leather she was wearing was enough to drive any man over the edge, too – especially with her flat, toned mid drift shown off.

What King didn't know was that Max knew he was checking her out. His roaming eyes both pissed her off even more, and made her stomach jump. That same feeling she had in the lab was back, and she wasn't sure if she hated it or loved it. Shaking it off for the moment, Max narrowed her eyes when his gaze fell on her chest. Males! She knew he was interested, or pretended to be at the very least, but she could only assume it was a trick to throw her off.

"Kick," she said loudly to see if he had descended completely into male shallowness or if he was still going to help her.

"Hmm? Oh! Right! Um, turn your heel out when you kick then rotate it back when you bring your leg in," he instructed simply.

"That it, or should I really feel it, too, Master Kenobi?" she asked sarcastically.

"Just try it," he ordered, becoming both annoyed and impatient.

Max sighed and did as she was told. She moved the back of her foot with her leg and brought it straight back. She felt the difference and was surprised, to say the least. She hadn't wavered on her feet like usual. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the smug look on King's face. She tried to ignore him, and performed a few more kicks just to make sure. When she stopped, satisfied, she looked over at King. The smug bastard had his arms crossed as he leaned against a wall with that same smug look on his face.

"I stand corrected. You are good for something, fuckhead," she commented, moving her eyes to the floor.

"That hurts," he retorted, a hand over his heart, and started to walk back over to her. "Where did you learn to fight?"

"Why do _you_ care?" she countered defensively.

"Because I am just a curious cuddly little Care Bear, here for you to cry on should you need to, and you owe me for helping you out," he replied, and she gave him an odd look but he just shrugged. "So?" Max looked over him once before nodding.

"I used to be a Vampire," she admitted, and pulled back her hair to show him the glyph at the base of her neck. "My sire, Snowman, he taught me. Every time we'd finish a spar, I'd feel like I should bow to him or have honor." This time, King gave her an odd look. "He was Chinese."

"Oh," he said with a nod. "You know, I used to be one, too."

"Don't lie to me. If there's one thing I hate, its liars…and circus freaks, but that's a whole other thing."

"No, seriously! Here, look." King walked closer and pulled down the rim of his pants to show her his mark on his left hip, and smirked proudly when he saw Max raised her eyebrows and smiled appreciatively. "Danica Talos, the biggest cock juggling bitch this side of the Western Hemisphere."

""Talos"?" she echoed, staring him straight in the eyes. "You were turned by Danica Talos?"

"Yeah," he told her, not really sure what she was getting at. When Max cursed, his eyes widened. "Oh, have you had the misfortune of meeting her, too?"

"No, not yet," she replied. "My brother, he was turned by Snowman, same as me, but we were cured and separated. I just found out he was turned again, but one Ms. Danica Talos. He's currently missing from her group, supposedly working for another head vampire. Sciver something or other. I'm not to sure."

"Damn. I'm sorry," he said sincerely, his voice getting a little quiet.

"I don't want your pity," she retorted quickly.

"Good, 'cause you don't have my pity, you have my sympathy. Or my condolences, since he's dead again. I'm not really sure how that works." Max simply shook her head, giving him a withered look. "You know, what? You need to blow off some steam, and all that pent up sexual frustration you have for me." As she moved to hit him, King held up his arms in defense. "Fight me," he demanded seriously.

"What? No!" Max retorted, looking at him like he was crazy.

"Oh, come on! What are you afraid of?" he taunted.

"Paying the bills after you're hospitalized!"

"Ha ha," King responded dryly. "No, I'm serious! Come on! If you could do it in the lab, you could do it here, right?"

"Fine, you persistent bastard," she growled, his taunting getting on her nerves. "I can't believe how annoying one man can be."

"All part of my charm," he told her and moved back towards her, who lashed out with her fist first, catching under the chin. King reeled back in shock on inside but on the outside he launched a kick at the same time her fist was drawing back to hit him again. Before she could even punch him, he kicked her on the side. Max backed away and bent over, clutching her side.

"Lucky shot," she told him, eyes narrowed.

"Oh, I haven't even begun to get lucky, sugar butt," he told her cockily. "We're just getting started."

"Shut the fuck up and fight!"

The first few attacks they threw at one another got through their opposite defenses. Both were just trying to discover the other's fighting style. King could tell that Max wasn't packing anything too serious. She moved fast, and he noticed that when he expanded she contracted, and when he contracted she expanded. It was little things like that, which helped her gain the upper hand quickly.

It also helped her to gain a quick understanding of King's fighting techniques. She recognized him as a heavy hitter, but still somewhat quick on his feet. She could tell though, just by the way he moved that he was like Xavier and preferred weapons to hand to hand combat. The two were almost the same, and she knew she could beat him if she just kept using her agility and Snowman's moves.

He tried to punch her, but she ducked under it and kicked his legs out form underneath him. King went down, and saw her bring her right leg up all the way to her head. She was going to slam it down into him, and he couldn't have that. So, he used one of his own legs to kick her leg balancing her and brought her down, too. As soon as she was down, he used his body weight to roll away from her and stand. King watched her as she pushed herself to her feet by her arms, like some Kung Fu martial artists.

The mats on the floor had thankfully broken both of their falls. But now they both stood, and were on very different ground. Abby had trained King after she'd saved him, and they still sparred every now and then. A professional martial artist had trained Max, not to mention she was a vampire at the time and was training with Blade at the moment. She was skilled and disciplined while he was a street fighter, a dirty fighter. What King didn't know what that she could not only throw a good punch and kick, but could jump as well. Yes, Max could jump really far.

She had started at a run towards him, which threw him off. Max noticed his sudden hesitance and smiled as she picked up he speed. She continued her run until she leapt off the mats and towards King. He was stunned, frozen, and it wasn't until she had flipped over his head, placed her hands on his shoulders, and a foot in his back, all while still in the air, that he knew what she was about to do. Max's free foot landed on the ground and she pulled King back with all her momentum, and he flew over her shoulder and onto the mat.

"Ah-ha-ha-ow," he gasped painfully, and moved to stand up when Max suddenly pounced and sat on top of him, hauling her arm back to punch him. "Bitch."

"Perv," she retorted.

"Thank you," he said kindly before catching her off guard.

King grabbed her by her waist and pulled her over his head so she was on the ground, than flipped over so he was on top. He established a hold down quickly, placing her hands above her head and the weight of his legs pinning down her own. There was no way Max could get out of this with strength, or some crafty trick Snowman had taught her about pressure points. Hell, she couldn't even knee him in the groin in his position!

"I win," King proclaimed, but Max just glared up at him. She didn't think she'd get beaten so easily, especially not by King. She was so mad – both at herself and him – that she started to struggle against him. "You know, squirming around like that, underneath a guy like me, not so smart," he told, meaning every word of it. Max stopped her struggling and he loosened his grip. As he stared down at her, that old familiar feeling rising up, and King suddenly leaned down so he was an inch from her face.

"If you wanted to be on top, all you had to do was ask," she told him, and leaning up to meet him halfway and kissing him castely. When she moved to push him off of her, King grabbed her by the back of her neck and to kiss her fully. Max struggled at first, but finally caved and returned the kiss. King preceded to grab her waist and pulled her into a roll to she was straddling him again.

"I've gotta go," she exclaimed urgently, pulling herself away from him and clumsily rose to her feet.

"Uh, wait! Hold on, Max!" he called in alarm as he stood as well, chasing after the now jogging woman. "Hold on a minute," he demanded, grabbing her arm as they stepped out of the gym. "What was that?"

"Um, I, uh…I don't know," she admitted shakily.

"I didn't mean for that to happen," he told her honestly. "I swear, I just want to see how good you were. At fighting," he added quickly, as not to offend her. "At the fighting, not the, uh…the other thing."

"And now you know, for both," she replied with a cheeky smile, and he chuckled, glad that the awkward tension was slightly gone.

"I'm, uh, I'm sorry," he said sincerely, and Max looked at him in a whole new light.

"Don't be," she replied, and leaned up to kiss his lips teasingly before pulling away. "See 'ya around, King," she said and ran out of the hideout to her motorcycle, driving off to the docks.

"Why is she running out here? She doesn't hate you now, does she?" Abigail asked behind him, not having seen a thing. "We might need her help later on, and we can't have you two fighting like you were before."

"No, she doesn't hate me," he replied with an exasperated tone. "In fact, we're on _much_ better terms now," he told her with a smile as he walked past her. Abigail watched him with a worried look in her eyes before falling in step beside him.

"How much better?"

"Scale of one to ten, I'd say Max and me are about an eight," he replied, and sighed when he saw Abigail raise an eyebrow at him. "We just realized we have more in common than we first though, that's all."

"Such as?"

"She used to be a Vampire, for starters."

"Great. Looks like you may have met your match."

"Yeah, a match made in heaven, that's Max and I." As King walked on ahead of her, Abigail wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or serious.

P.S.: Six pages total.


	11. One Wild Night

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 11: One Wild Night**

The sound of gunfire lapsed over the scene of a machine shop parking lot that night. Not that far off, there was a massive explosion ripping through an industrial building. Banks of windows blew outwards, fire roiled; brick walls crumbled, and debris rained everywhere. A screaming man, completely on fire, ran tumbling into the night air. Buoyed by the explosion, his body flew upward, trailing fire like a human comet. Following him, a few men – vampires – raced out, some of them on fire.

At a closer look, two figures soon resolved out of the swirling flames, one was Blade and the other was Max. Both were striding towards the escaped and somewhat still living vampires, bodies bristling with weapons, and the sounds of their footfalls ringing out like drums of doom to the creatures of the night.

"Why do they always run?" Max asked, pulling out her new gun and cocking it. Blade looked down at it, wondering where she got it.

"Good question," he replied, moving his eyes back to the running vampires. "Let's go ask."

"I love this part," she said with a wicked grin, bouncing slightly on her feet.

"You love all the parts," he retorted and the two started walking once again, looking the god and goddess of war.

A trio of vampire low lives – Stone, Gedge, and Campbell – ran for their lives towards their vehicles. As they do so, two modified racing cars are pulling out: a Mustang and an Eagle Talon. Gedge climbed into the Talon even as it started to move, pulling the door shut. The mere sight of them made Max a little jealous that all the vampires in the city had great cars while she only had her supped up motorcycle. Not that she was complaining, but a car was better than her bike in some cases. At the same time Stone and Campbell climbed atop two stretched and lowered hard tail chopper cycles.

Blade and Max started forward with Blade drawing two of his custom mach pistols, but the Mustang came screaming in reverse towards them. Blade made a super-human leap over the speeding car, leaving Max to jump herself. She ran towards the car, stepped up on the hood, and leaped forward to flip over the roof and truck. As she landed safely on her feet, crouched down, she looked up to watch Blade. Momentarily upside down, he fired through the windshield and engine block as he flipped. Within the car, the vampires turned to ash and the Mustang exploded. As the enflamed car flipped over, Blade continued to fire as he landed next to Max.

"Show off," she said to him.

Blade didn't say a word, but turned his guns towards the Talon and the choppers. Max joined him in his aim aiming at the vehicles that were hauling ass out of the parking lot, swerving into the traffic on the street beyond. Both kept on firing until they were out of bullets.

"No more bullets, Blade?" Ellingson asked with a wide grin. "Guess it's time for you to fall down and go boom."

"How come they always know _you_ and not _me_?" Max asked, holstering her guns to her thighs as four stranded vampires, from the conflagration, their clothes still smoking, surrounded the pair of hunters. It was Emond, Doh, and Denlinger with Ellingson.

"Just lucky, I guess," he replied, hostler his own guns.

As Max reached behind her for her newest favorite toy, two sais, Blade reached for a wicked looking chain-knife strapped to his thigh. The knife, as Whistler had informed him, had a button on either side of the hilt. As Ellingson rushed at the Daywalker, Blade triggered the first button. ZZZING! The knife-blade ejected from the hilt, trailing outward six feet on a razored chain and penetrated Ellingson's chest. He gasped as he started to turn to ash but, before his disintegration is complete, Blade hit the second button. The knife-blade retracted, razored chain whirring back into the knife-hilt.

"Get down!" he ordered Max, who looked confused until he spun and triggered the first button again.

Max ducked as the knife-blade flew out, and the razored chain whipped around Denlinger's throat. Blade tugged at the chain, and it cuts through Denlinger's neck and decapitated him. As he turned to ash, Blade triggered the knife again. As it ejected, he whirled it around his head, making a sound like a bullroarer. Blade dropped low and Max sprung up, jumping over the chain like it was a simple jump rope as Blade swung it to slice through Emond's legs. Emond's amputated legs turned to ash while the rest of him tumbled onto the asphalt, screaming in pain. Blade retracted the knife-blade, whirled, and thrust it through Doh's abdomen, who was coming up from behind to attack. As Doh turned to ash, Blade returned to Emond. Before he could finish him off, Max got in his way and slammed one of her silver sais through his heart.

"What?" she asked, as he turned to ash at her feet and Blade cocked his head at her. "You were taking all the fun!"

"Sidekicks," he mumbled lowly and went on the move again, rushing after the vampires who escaped.

"Well, wait for me!" she called in irritation, running after him towards the street overpass.

The bike-riding vampires had cut across traffic, and then screamed down an on-ramp to a busy street below. While they were trying to make a quick getaway, Blade and Max were sprinting from the parking lot to the sidewalk. Blade touched a hand to his ear, where a tiny receiver was safely tucked within.

"We're on the Stonebridge overpass at Clemons," he said, watching the vampires very carefully.

"_Got it,_" Whistler said through the earpiece. "_Heading eastbound, I'm just beneath you!_"

Blade grabbed Max's arm and forced her to dodge past a honking car, step onto and over the trunk, and leap atop the safety rail of the overpass as a big rig cab hauling a semi-trailer thundered beneath the overpass, sounding its air horn. It had safety cables running along the perimeter of the trailer roof, like an aircraft carrier.

"_GO!_" Whistler shouted and both Blade and Max launched themselves into the air.

They landed atop the semi and Max tumbled, nearly slipping off the edge until she snagged one of the safety cables atop the trailer. She dangled above the asphalt until Blade reached down, grabbed her arm, and swung her into the open back of the trailer before swinging himself inside as well.

"Thanks," she gasped shakily walking over to the passenger side of Blade's matte black Dodge Charger.

"Use your head, kid," he told her gruffly, slipping into the driver's side. "Think!"

Blade stuck the key in the ignition and the engine Max listened to a thunderclap of the high-performance engine turning over as it rocketed out of the back of the trailer, sailing right over a car that was tail-gating the semi, and headed into three lanes of on-coming traffic at fifty miles an hour. Blade suddenly hit the brakes, sending the battle-scarred muscle car into a spin and clipping other vehicles in the process.

As cars continued to brake and collide around them, Blade remained calm and stoic as Max gripped the roof for dear life. She thought she'd be used to his driving by now, but she wasn't at all. His driving still made her stomach do flip-flops. As she was silently praying to live through this drive, Blade put the pedal to the metal once again. The Charger accelerated, tachometer red-lining as he pulled alongside the cab of the big-rig, catching a glimpse of Whistler behind the wheel. The old man grinned, giving them a little salute.

"Do it," Blade ordered and Max nodded, gaining her bearings. She reached in between the seats, activating the newly installed nitrous oxide fuel-injection system – the same one that was in her motorcycle.

The Charger jetted forward into hyper speed as the nitrous system boosted the car's speed by another three hundred HP, leaving any and everything in its dust. Within seconds, Blade and Max caught up to Stone and Campbell. The two vampires drew TEC-9s, firing back at their hunters. The bulletproof windshield held on though, as did the Kevlar body panels protecting the engine – but the rounds chewed the shit out of the bodywork.

"Again," Blade ordered, eyes on the road, and Max gave the car another jolt of nitrous. The Charger surged forward as Stone and Campbell fell back, veering to either side; now the hunters were ahead of them. Blade checked their position in his rear-view mirror, and proceeded to stand on the brakes.

The Charger dropped from a hundred to fifty in a heartbeat, causing Stone and Campbell to rear-end Blade and Max. The vampires were ejected over the handlebars of their bikes like crash-test dummies. Stone smashed through Blade's back windshield, continuing into the front seat between him and Max while Campbell tumbled over the roof and across the hood. He somehow managed to cling to one of the windshield wipers at the last minute.

Blade clutched the wheel, and Max gripped the roof with one hand and the vampire's neck with the other. Blade was not enjoy the scene as much as Max; after all, he has a howling vampire in the front seat, upside down, covered in windshield fragments and another perched on his hood, obscuring his vision. This simply wasn't good.

Stone tried to right himself, clawing at Blade, who struggled, keeping one hand on the wheel while he reaches for a shotgun secured between the seats. Max grabbed the vampire by his shoulders with one hand and wrapped her other arm around its throat, choking it. Blade fired at him and, as Stone turned to ash, and Max released him and Blade hit a button on the dashboard. The passenger door opened, and spilled Stone onto the road right into the path of an oncoming bus. WHAM! Stone was gone. The passengers on the tourist bus that hit him were jolted in their seats as the wheels ran over his remains.

"I hope that wasn't a dog," an old woman said sadly, looking out her window to see nothing in the road but other cars.

Back at the Charger, Campbell continued to hammer away at the windshield, forming spider webs. Campbell managed to get a clawed hand through, and Max grabbed Blade's shotgun before he could raise it again.

"My turn," she said simply, and swung his shotgun over, shoving it in Campbell's snarling mouth. She pulled the trigger – BOOM! Campbell's cinder remains blew over the cracked windshield. Blade hit the wipers, spritzed the window cleaner but the mess turned to ashen sludge, making the view even worse. "Nice work, B," she commented mirthlessly.

On the busy street, the Talon was up ahead, weaving in and out of traffic. Fighting to see, Blade accelerated, gaining ground. The vampire driver leaned out of his own window, looking back at Blade and Max, firing an automatic pistol. Blade's windshield, which was already weakened by Campbell, shattered and blew glass fragments all over him and Max. Undaunted, Blade calmly reached for his dashboard, hitting a button labeled "UV."

The roof-mounted UV daylights came on, bathing the car ahead and, more importantly, the vampire driver with UV rays. The vampire at the wheel shrieked, turned to ash, leaving the car driverless. Gedge tried to lean over and take the wheel, but the burning remains blew back and the view cleared.

"I'm getting bored here, B," Max complained with, as she said, a bored tone. "Run 'em off the road! Please!"

Blade shook his head before slamming his Charger into the Talon. The cars briefly locked, grinding sparks, before they disengaged. Blade jerked his steering wheel, giving the Talon yet another slam. The Talon hit the curb, riding halfway up onto a sidewalk, and plowed down some newspaper vending machines and tabletop displays piled with cheap wares, and a phone booth and food cart. Pedestrians ducked for cover, and the Talon got some serious air, rolling onto its side as it came back to earth.

"Happy now?" Blade asked her as they watched the wreck skid to a stop against a streetlight, which creaked and crashed down onto the wreck.

"Oh, yeah," she replied with a smile. They looked on as bystanders gathered, murmuring amongst themselves. Gedge suddenly dragged his bleeding body from the wrecked Talon and staggered to his feet, clutching a pistol, and limped away. "What the fuck? How many times do we have to hit this guy before he learns to stay the fuck down?"

"One more time apparently," he retorted. "Let's go."

P.S.: Five pages total.


	12. Downhill From Here

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 12: Downhill from Here**

Blade's Charger pulled up on the street, not far from the crash. Both hunters climbed out, the shotgun still in Blade's hand. However, the shotgun had an under-mounted stake launcher. Thank you, Whistler. Blade fired at Gedge, and the stake hit him in the back, knocking him onto the street. The bystanders screamed, falling back and taking cover as Blade and Max approached, both looking rather puzzled. Gedge was still alive, and he was laughing. As the two stood over him, Gedge was looking up at them, eyes crazed and fangs flashing.

"What the fuck is this shit, B?" Max asked in irritation. "You suck heads _really_ immortal now?" she asked mockingly, a smirk on her face.

"Staked you with silver," Blade stated, ignoring Max's humor for the moment. "Why aren't you ash?" Both hunters watched as Gedge coughed up some blood, struggling to speak.

"Why aren't you smarter? Not a vampire, DUMB SHIT!" he shouted angrily, laughing a bit through his bouts of coughing. Blade just looked back at Max, who shrugged. "Set your sorry ass up," he told them, and reached up to tug at his fangs. He pulled his fangs off and held them up. Both Blade and Max paled at the sight. The fangs were fake, prosthetic.

"Oh, fuck me!" Max gasped despairingly. Gedge suddenly smiled even wider and looked past them. When she turned to look, she paled even more so that she knew she looked like a corpse. "Blade," she said urgently, hitting his shoulder and nodding to a rooftop not far from them.

When he turned, he saw what Max did: Danica Talos perched there, a video camera in her hands. As she pulled the camera away from her face, she smiled triumphantly at them. She started to back away into the shadows, but Blade didn't have time to run over and super jump to investigate because police sirens were drawing near.

"Damn…"

"We are so fucked," Max told him, looking down as Gedge died and a helicopter spotlight landed on them. "I take that back, we're being fucking prison raped!"

"Shut up," he ordered and both proceeded to retreat back to his Charger at a dead run. Blade gunned it, speeding away into the night.

"What are we gonna tell Whistler?" she asked seriously, trying to keep the panic in her voice down.

"I don't know."

"You don't know? YOU DON'T KNOW! Well, you better fucking figure it out, Eric, 'cause if you don't then we're dead! That helicopter – not to mention that fucking blood sucking bitch – got us on tape, standing over the body of a dead human! A HUMAN!"

"A Familiar," he corrected. "And don't call me by that name," he ordered harshly.

"I'll call you whatever the _fuck_ I want right now, 'cause I have every fucking right to be acting like this!" she retorted. "And, Familiar or not, that guy was still human, and we were caught on tape and seen by an entire street full of witnesses killing him! WE'RE FUCKED!" she reiterated, kicking the floor of the Charger and slamming herself back into her seat.

"Calm your ass down before I eject you out of that seat," he threatened, and she looked over at him briefly before taking a calming breath, knowing he was dead Charger soon pulled up to the boathouse at the water's edge. As the two climbed out and disappeared inside, both were silently thanking God that the cops didn't follow them; they were too slow.

"What the fuck happened tonight?" Whistler demanded as soon as the two were in sight.

As Blade walked past him, Max sat down at the worktable, admiring the refuge. Since she'd arrived, things had changed a bit. New digs were built into the decaying boathouse, retrofitted for both Blade and Max's combat needs. The sound of loud banging brought her back to reality and she looked up to see Blade taking off his body armor and tossing his weapons onto the worktable in frustration.

"Be nicer to your weapons, B," she told him. "They're what keep you alive."

"No, _I_ keep me alive," he told her, and looked back at Whistler. "And how should I know? He was human," he said, as if it explained everything. As the hybrid took off his jacket, Whistler reached for a bottle of whiskey and took a sip. He'd been doing that a lot lately.

"You've been getting reckless, Blade," he scolded. "You kill a vampire, they ash, don't leave any proof of their existence. Killing humans, it's messy," he lectured, shaking his head. "You better hope nobody ID-ed you."

"Not fucking likely," Max stated, and Whistler turned to her.

"What do you mean?" he asked, and Blade growled.

"There was some vampire sitting on the roof across the street from us, with a video camera," she told, staring pointedly at Blade.

"Well, ain't that just peachy-fucking-keen," Whistler commented, marching over to his worktable and handled Blade's weapons with the proper care.

"What's this?" Blade asked almost suspiciously, holding up a little inhaler on the table.

"A new delivery system for your serum. It's an **anderpressant** inhaler. Just bite down on the mouth guard. Deliveries automatic," he explained and Blade nodded, impressed with the old man. "Some friends of mine made it," he told him.

"Hmph, "friends"," he scoffed disbelievingly, eyeing his mentor amusedly.

"Yeah, you remember those?" he asked indignantly.

"You mean, you don't think of the old man and me here as friends, B? I'm hurt! I think…yeah," she said with a nod and a hand over her heart, "I think my heart might actually be broken!" As she smiled at the unamused look on Blade's face, Whistler was laughing. "Seriously, I'm wiped. I'm catching some Z's. Wake me up in about three or four hours, or when the pigs come banging on our door for murder. Whichever comes first," she called back as she headed up the stairs to her room.

"That's not funny, Max!" Whistler shouted to her.

"Sorry! Don't know what I was thinking!" she called back sarcastically, leaning on the railing to look down at him. "Why on earth would the cops want to arrest such upstanding citizens like us?"

-----------------------------

"I miss you, too," Max whispered into her cell phone. "Yeah, I know. …Yes, I know we're in deep shit, but I can't exactly talk to Blade about it right now. …I am _not_ gonna crash, okay! Look, I don't want to argue, but talking about whether or not Dracula truly exists is not the type of thing you can just discuss over breakfast, not that we sit down and have breakfast here. …We're going to wait on this, Hannibal. …Why? Because I fucking said so, that's why! …Ugh, listen! He's not ready yet, all right? When he is, I'll come to Headquarters and let you know, all right?"

"Hey, Max!" Max's bedroom door suddenly slammed open and Whistler limped in. Max sighed in relief, lowering the gun she'd aimed at him when her door swung open. "I'm headin' over to the convenience store. Want to come?" Max eyed him a moment before nodding. She could tell that him inviting her to come with him on one of his outings was code for, "we need to talk, now."

"Yeah, just give me a minute," she told him and he walked out of the room, not even seeing the cell phone behind her back. "Hannibal, you still there? …Nothing, just Whistler. Listen, I have to go, but I'll come by tomorrow morning and we'll talk then. Maybe spar for a bit. …Ha, yeah, maybe that, too, lover. …You, too, babe," she said, unable to tell him those three words, even after sleeping with him for the past seven months. Max hung up the phone, tossed it onto her bed, and grabbed her jacket.

As she dashed out of her room, Blade was nowhere in sight, and Whistler was already waiting at the door. She never understood why he liked walking to the convenience store when she could just drive him, but that was Whistler. He was a bit of an odd ball, and she wouldn't change him. Max tugged on her jacket and walked out of the warehouse with nothing but a glance at Whistler, who followed after her as soon as he slammed the door behind him. That was liable to piss Blade off, break his concentration on whatever he was doing at the moment, but what did they care?

"So, who was on the phone?" he asked her, making her look at him in shock. How the hell had he known about that? "I'm not stupid, Max. You hiding that plastic piece of shit behind your back isn't going to fool me." That answered her question just fine.

"It was King," she told him, and he nodded.

"And what did fritz want?" he asked impatiently. "He knows better than to call us. It could compromise everything!"

"One, he didn't call _us_; he called _me_. Two, he wanted to talk to me," she explained. "He and Abby are still pushing for me…for _us_," she reiterated, "to bring Blade to the Hideout, and tell him what Danica and her little troupe are up to."

"Yeah, well, he'll just have to wait until we're in some serious shit," he replied. "Because Blade's not going to follow us anywhere and listen to what Abby and the others have to say unless he tranquilized, hog tied, drag there, tied down, and under heavily armed guard."

"Nice imagery, old man," she mused with a laugh as they stepped up to the convenience store, which was really just a stand.

"Pack of Reds and some matches," he ordered, and the Mexican seller went about getting Whistler's cigarettes.

As the two waited, Whistler noticed a black and white tabloid on display nearby. The cover story featured a blurry photo of Blade and Max's recent melee with the vampires. Whistler picked up the tabloid, studying it a moment before nudging Max and showing her. The next to the photo was an artist's sketch of Blade, Max, and even Whistler, though his was not well done. The headline read, _Gun Toting Psychopaths Captured On Film!_

"I'll take this, too," he said with a nod to the cashier, handing over some more cash.

"Those fuckers need a new hobby," the cashier said with a laugh.

"Let's hope not," he replied. The two left the store, perusing the tabloid as they walked. "What the hell is this, Max?" he asked furiously, hitting the headline of the magazine. "Well?"

"I told you there was some vampire bitch with a camera!"

"Well, that's just perfect 'cause we've been pinched," he retorted sarcastically, forcefully pulling her back to headquarters by her arm.

"That's not my fault!" she insisted angrily.

"Well, it sure as hell ain't mine! I wasn't the one that went off and killed a human in broad daylight, in front of witnesses," he scolded.

"It was night time, old man, and it was a fucking Familiar posing as a vampire," she shouted at him in frustration. "I said to Blade exactly what you're saying to me, but that doesn't matter! They tricked us! What the hell were we suppose to do, apologize?"

"I would've been a nice start," he retorted, and she growled exasperatedly.

What neither of them knew was that they were being followed and photograph by FBI Agent Cumberland. As the pair walked inside the hideout, they found Blade watching a T.V. report about him, something like _60 Minutes._ The guests were calling him a sociopath and a disturbed individual.

"Congratulations! You're famous," Whistler told Blade sarcastically as he slapped the tabloid on the workbench in front of him. "Somebody nailed us. Faces all over the papers, the television. Media's eating it up!"

"Like I care," Blade replied shortly, barely giving the tabloid another glance.

"Well, you should! Something like this," he began, gesturing to the tabloid angrily, "taking out a human, even one working for the Vampires – far as the rest of the world's concerned, you're public enemy number one!"

"Didn't know this was a popularity contest."

"Don't be such a Goddamn smart ass, Eric!" Max shouted at him, and Blade set his glare on her. "I mean, Blade. I obviously meant to say Blade," she corrected and sighed, turning to Whistler. "Your turn, old man," she whispered to Whistler, who shook his head in frustration.

"Damn it, Blade, don't you see what their doing?" he asked as he walked over to his gun locker, retrieved his rifle and cocked it. "The fuckers are finally getting smart. They're waging a Goddamn PR campaign. Now it's not just vampires we have to worry about. We're gonna have to take on the rest of the world, too," he explained, though he was rather adamant about it.

"You worry too much, old man," Blade told him calmly.

"That's why we're still alive, God damn it! I've been doing this since before you were born, Blade, and you're like a son to me," he admitted solemnly, making Blade finally pay serious attention to him. "I'm sorry I got old on you. I see you alone, surrounded by enemies. It breaks my heart. We can't win this war alone."

"They've got us on the run, Blade," Max added seriously, leaning against the table by her elbows. "These last few months, we've barely been staying ahead of the curve. The moment you stop worrying, you're dead," she warned him, both her and Whistler knowing full well that's exactly what Blade was doing.

"I've taught the both of you everything I know," Whistler said with a softened face before he sighed deeply. "But I'm tired. You understand?"

P.S.: Six pages total.


	13. End Game

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 13: End Game**

That night, the three hunters sat in their separate rooms. Since the blow up downstairs and Whistler's fatherly confession, the three hadn't spoken. They simple wandered back to their rooms and did what they usually did: thought, long and hard.

Whistler was sitting on his cot, contemplating the tarnished wedding ring on his hand as he slowly spun it around his finger. His thoughts were on Abby and the Nightstalkers. He knew all about Max and King's relationship, and while he was happy for her he was worried as well. It was no secret that King wasn't the smartest man on the planet, much less the city, but he was a good man. He could take care of Max, and he'd been watching Abby's back for a while now. Abby was another problem on his mind. He didn't get to spend as much time with her as he'd like, but that was also a good thing. She was stubborn and headstrong, determined, just like him. That little fact was also the problem.

Whistler didn't want Abby to end up like him, fighting the war her whole life until she had nothing but the next battle.

Max was sitting on her own bed, the laptop Sommerfield had given her months ago lit up in front of her. Since she'd joined the Nightstalkers, Max had been given weapons and technical upgrades. While she still had her sword, she rarely used it anymore. King had gotten her hooked on the Sun Dogs and using guns. Years ago, she probably would've beaten the shit out of someone who fought the undead with guns, but Hedges and Sommerfield were geniuses and changed her mind. As she sat there, her fingers moved from the keyboard to the charm that Cam had worn. She'd torn it from his neck after he'd died and wore it at all times now. An Om medallion, she'd researched it. Her eyes drifted briefly away from the screen to the sword in the corner of her room, collecting dust.

She walked over and picked it up, and walked back over to her bed, setting the sword Snowman had given her next to her. With her attention back on the screen, she started to hack into whatever files she could of the biggest companies that she knew to be run by vampires. She was trying to find Xavier. Since their run in where he had practically hit on her and attempted to turn her, she had been searching through the use of technology instead of hard detective street work. She tried the latter for years, and it never amounted to any good. Wherever Xavier was, with this Marcus van Sciver vampire or elsewhere, she couldn't seem to find him. He was gone, again.

With a sigh, she let her hands fall into her hands and shook her head. King had been right, again. It was impossible. She hated it when he was right, and it seemed to be happening more often than not. Damn, when did he get so good?

Meanwhile, Blade was sitting before a small Buddhist shrine, meditating. Incense was burning, as it usually was at this time. His sword rested in a ceremonial holder in front of him as his eyes remained closed in concentration.

The near silence was suddenly punctuated by the intermittent ocean swell outside. Violent sounds were going in and out of his mind. Scream echoed and gunshots rang out steadily. These were what plagued Blade's thoughts. The inner demon he was constantly trying to tame, the vampire in him, the thirst. He tried to block out the sounds, but they simply wouldn't go away. Karen and Nyssa invaded his mind with a swell of regret and guilt of how things had ended on both counts. His mother Vanessa entered, but not as a vampire – as the human, mortal woman he never knew and barely remembered. All he had was that one picture of her, from when she was pregnant with him. He always kept it with him, underneath all of his body armor.

As he reminded himself that all three women were free and safe, he wondered if Max would end up the same, if Whistler would. With even more dark thoughts added to his generous supply, the sounds raging in his mind faded away and Blade opened his eyes. He listened closely to the air and water outside.

Something was wrong.

He crept into the outer room, sword drawn. He heard a shuffle behind him and turned to see Whistler standing in the shadows, clutching a handgun. Max soon exited her own room to stand in front of Blade, guns strapped to her thighs and her own sword drawn out. If this surprised Blade, he didn't show it.

"What's wrong?" she asked, seeing the solemn look on his face. Blade didn't answer, simply sighed quietly and look at the ground.

"What is it?" Whistler asked this time, holding his shotgun tighter in his hands.

"What you two were worried about," he told them, and all three stood stone still.

They listened, but all that was heard was the sound of the ocean swell. A window suddenly shattered from up above, and two armored S.W.A.T. agents lowered themselves in on rappelling lines. Two more agents crashed through a bank of windows on either side, swinging in and firing canisters of tear gas. As Blade and Max moved to engage them, Whistler turned the other way and rushed into the heart of the armory, but a reinforced door exploded inward and more agents stormed inside. From the water, a military Zodiac (inflatable boat) roared up one of the wooden boat ramps, laden with gun-toting agents, who jumped out and fanned all over the boathouse.

"On the floor," an agent ordered him, but Whistler ignored him. "ON THE FLOOR!" he repeated.

Whistler fired at them quickly and made a run for it as fast as he could, which wasn't very because of his limp. The agents returned fire, but Whistler ducked behind a concrete pillar, silently cursing himself. He knew then that they never would've been found unless one of them screwed up. Whistler knew in that moment that he and Max had been followed.

From the safety of a window, Max looked out into the night to check what was going on outside the boathouse. Cop cruisers, unmarked cars, and S.W.A.T. trucks swept in, sirens blaring, disgorging a small army of police and F.B.I. agents. Police boats were soon pulling up to the dock with Agents Cumberland and Hale emerging from one wearing bulletproof vests and brandishing firearms.

"Lock it down! Keep them contained!" Cumberland barked into a radio, looking to the rooftop, where various S.W.A.T. snipers had taken position.

"Shit!" Max cursed. "We were followed," she breathed, guilt filling up inside as she came to the same conclusion as Whistler.

She looked over the railing to see Blade brawling with a half-dozen agents, sending them flying in all directions. Even though he didn't need help, she decided to join the fight. Strapping her sword on her back like she used to, she quickly rain down the ramp just in time to see Blade grab one agent, head butt him, and throw him into the path of two others. As she began punching and dodging attacks, tripping up and kicking agents in their throats as they lay on the ground, Blade was reaching for another agent. He threw him through a window at the rear, and out into the river below.

While the two hunters were fighting the seemingly never ending hordes of agents, Whistler moved through the boathouse with increased urgency. Max had just grabbed onto a pipe above her and swung back and forth once, gaining speed. When an agent approached her, she kicked him in the jaw first and then his chest, sending him flying out a window. She looked around for Whistler and saw him struggling, and then at Blade who was handling things pretty well. As she dropped herself to the ground, she ran into the armor, arm shielding her as best it could.

The armory was filling up with tear gas, and hurried to a bank of computers, coughing and half-blind as he typed in a series of commands. The various monitors around him synched up, showing the same protocol message: _Data protection routine enabled. Server 1 protection enabled. Server 2 protection enabled._ In response, a rack of network storage equipment and removable hard drives exploded and a second rack of equipment followed the first's example.

"We got no time! Start fighting, Whistler," she told him, but he simply hit the computers.

Growling in frustration, Max picked up his shotgun, cocked it and started to shoot down agents trying to surround Blade. She knew that the agents outside would hear the explosions, and would learn what Whistler was doing, destroying their hard drives so the government wouldn't know about their future plans or what his next project was, or even about the vampires in their databank that they'd gotten from Cam before he died. More agents were going to be coming after them, and Blade was already had his hands full. Max and Whistler were on their own.

Max moved away from Whistler, going around the other side of the ramp. She continued shooting down agents as they came inside. Bodies were starting to pile up at the entrances, and she was starting to run low on ammunition. Meanwhile, behind her, Whistler kept moving until an agent got a clear shot at him and fired, hitting him in the chest.

"WHISTLER!" Max shouted, and shot the agent in the head, killing him instantly. Blade had seen Whistler take the hit, but he had been cut off from the old man as agents swarmed him. Max ran over to Whistler, who staggered as he kept moving, and threw one of his arms over her shoulder to help him keep moving. "You're too much trouble, old man," she joked, trying to hide the sadness in her voice.

"Yeah, I know," he hissed painfully as they made it to another bank of computers. "More trouble than I'm worth," he commented, and launched the same protocol.

On the monitors, the erasing information began purging themselves. The commands read: _Workstation 1 protection enabled. Workstation 2 protection enabled._ With each successive command, the workstations themselves begin self-destructing, exploding one after another. Another agent rounded the corner and got a bead on Whistler, firing a round into his thigh. As Whistler screamed and crumpled to the floor, Max turned and killed the agent.

Blade saw his mentor being slaughtered. He saw Max trying to protect him, save him, but both knew that it was in vain. In his anguish,he didn't notice the two agents rushing him, tackling him. As one, they fell backwards, into another bank of windows. CRASH! The three agents went flying down outside in a spray of glass, landing atop one of the police cruisers below. The roof buckled under their weight, the windows shattering

"Take him down," Cumberland ordered.

An F.B.I. agent raised a coda net gun atop his shoulder, taking aim and fired. Four projectiles expanded out from the barrel, carrying a steel net, which had been strung between them. The netting hit Blade, wrapping around him and restricting his movements. Immediately, a small army of agents dove on top of him, pummeling away, trying to beat him into submission.

Back inside, on the verge of losing consciousness, Whistler propped himself against a piece of machinery with Max's help. He was bleeding heavily from having been shot to hell as Max cried, trying desperately to stop the bleeding. One of his hands was closed, clutching something, but she didn't take notice as she applied pressure to the gunshot in his chest.

"Oh, shit!" she cursed, and turned to rip pieces off of the dead agent's clothing. "Whistler, you're…no, you're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay," she told him, but she was trying to assure herself more as she applied more pressure to his wounds. "I'm not losing you, too, Whistler," she vowed vehemently.

"Don't got much choice," he gasped, and grabbed her hands and forced her to stop and look him in the eyes. "Get out of here," he ordered.

"No way! Not without you," she argued tearfully, trying to get him to release her hands.

"Shut up and listen to me, Goddamn it!" he shouted at her, and she ceased her movements to look at him. "Get to the Hideout, get Abby and your little smart-ass boy toy King, and get in gear," he ordered firmly.

"What are you talking about?"

"You and Blade have to make it out of here alive," he said simply. "Blade'll get caught, 'cause he's too damn careless, but you gotta run and you gotta run now."

"You mean be a coward!" she retorted angrily. "What you're telling me to do is insane, Whistler! I'm not gonna leave you and Blade to…to…to die…"

"Don't worry about me, tree stump. I'm fine. I've accepted it," he assured her. "Besides, I'm tired," he reminded her with a sigh and released her hands, which moved away from his chest to sit limply at her sides. "I'm proud of you, Max," he told her, and she smiled at him before reached forward and kissing his forehead lovingly.

"Love you, old man. I'm gonna miss you, Whistler," she told him sincerely, her forehead rested against his.

She stayed there another moment before they heard footsteps coming towards them. She jumped away from Whistler and ran towards a window. She looked back briefly to Whistler and saw him nod for her to go. Max nodded back, tears running down her face, and she jumped out of the window, crashing into the water. Gunfire was muffled above her as she swam, but she soon saw bullets entered the water and barely missing her. As she continued to swim, she found herself hit by two sniper bullets, both grazing her in her arm and calf.

"Move a finger and you're dead," the agent warned as he and others warily closed in around Whistler, guns raised.

"How 'bout this one?" Whistler asked, flipping them off before letting his other hand uncurl. He had been holding a remote in his palm, with a tiny digital timer counting-down.

"He's got something in his –"

00:03.

00:02.

00:01.

00:00.

A series of explosion rocked the workshop, knocking the agents back. From outside, clouds of fire and flaming debris mushroomed, catching all unaware and sweeping them up off their feet with a hurricane force. In the midst of the conflagration, Blade briefly managed to tear free of his captors but the wall of fire and light was rushing onward, sweeping up everything in its path, turning the world to white.

From the other side of the boathouse, Max looked at the massive bonfire that was once her home from underneath the docks. She watched in the shadows as Blade was tranquilized and dragged off in the net, loaded into a truck and driven into the city. Cursing herself, Max slowly swam to the edge of the docks and pulled herself up as best she could with her undamaged arm. As she sat on the docks, she looked herself over and thought that it was going to be a long run to Abby and King.

P.S.: Four pages total.


	14. Real Life

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 14: Real Life**

"Well, well! If it isn't the reluctant hunter," Abby greeted as Max strode up to the warehouse doors, one hand held tightly over one of the grazings she'd received a few hours earlier. Abby was blocking her path, the modified rifle that shot silver stakes in her hand. "You look like hell."

"Whistler's dead, Abby," she told her bluntly and remained stoic as the other hunter paled. "The cops have Blade, and I'm guessing they work for Danica since she set us up and put us on the news in the first place."

"I know. We saw the report," she replied seriously, sighing. "They said they'd apprehended the sociopath known as Blade, and his base of operations was destroyed, but his two accomplices remained unfound, presumed dead. We were worried; now we know the truth…"

"Sorry to drag you into this, Abby," she said sincerely, looking at her sadly. She hated that she has to deliver the news of Whistler's death; it wasn't right.

"Me, too," she replied simply with a nod. "But we both knew it was gonna happen sooner or later."

Behind Abby, the doors to the Nightstalkers' headquarters opened and Zoë ran out. Both King and Abby had mentioned her before, and Max briefly remembered reading a book to her a few times before. Sommerfield kept the little girl hidden very well in the warehouse, and Max didn't meet her until about three months after she'd joined up. In the nine months that she'd been with the Nightstalkers, she'd become something of an aunt to Zoë, just like Abby.

"Hi, Max," the little girl greeted sweetly, smiling up at Max.

"Hi, Zoë," she replied, trying to smile and failing miserably as she grimaced.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm…wondering what I'm doing here," she joked, looking around with tear filled eyes. It was no lie. Max was indeed wondering what she was doing there, despite Whistler's orders, when she should've been tracking down Blade.

"There's plenty of room in side, Max. Help yourself to what you need," Abby told her encouragingly. "Especially the showers," she added, waving her hand in front of her nose jokingly

"Thank you," she replied with a nod and all three walked inside.

"You're welcome."

"Welcome back to the Honeycomb Hideout, Max," Dex called from the basketball court with Hedges.

"Yeah! Hey, Max!" Hedges called. "Glad to see your all right," he added.

"Yeah, girl! Ain't it great to be alive?" Dex asked, smiling at her, but Max simply waved to both of them. No, it wasn't great to be alive, especially when Whistler wasn't and Blade was in the custody of the police.

Zoë soon ran off to her mother in her lab, and Abby led Max to the weapons locker, where King stood waiting. Max could just tell by his stance that he was disappointed in her. His arms were crossed and he was leaning against Hedge's worktable, staring her down and shaking his head. As the two women approached him, King grabbed the shot gun behind him and placed the barrel under his chin.

"You wanna pull the trigger, or should I?" he asked and Max looked down at the floor, feeling like a stupid child. King sighed, and she looked up at him again, expecting a scolding. "Oh, Max! You're crashing on me, baby. I said you'd crash, and you are crashing," he told her, setting the gun aside.

"I just want to get him out, get him here and safe, time to heal," she explained helplessly. "Give him a chance," she begged desperately, and both Abby and King knew that she meant Blade.

"He's already dead, Max. He's got no chance," King reminded her seriously. "Don't go down with him."

"Are you saying that because you don't think we could pull it off, or because you're afraid to go up against Danica and her pussy whipped posse?" she asked bitterly, crossing her arms and staring him down.

"HEY!" Abby shouted at them, stepping in between the two. "We don't have time for this. We don't have a choice in this! We need Blade, period. We've gotta get to the police station, get Blade, and get out. No more bullshit! It's time we told him what the vampire's are up to, because he's back."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Max asked, looking between the two of them. "Suit up."

"Uh, first things first, sugar butt," King said quickly, pulling Max by her injured and bleeding arm. "You need a shower and medical attention because, while I find the alluring mixture smell of the toxic L.A. ocean and blood extremely sexy, I think you might give away our position," he told her seriously as he lead her to the bathrooms.

"Yeah, I might," she agreed, smiling slightly.

As they stopped inside the wide bathroom, Max stepped in front of a mirror and looked at herself. Abby was right, she looked like hell. She was soaked to the bone, shivering and freezing cold. She was pale from the minor blood loss, and she felt ill from the wind chill she received on her run to Headquarters. King watched her from the door as she removed her now ruined guns and her fairly undamaged sword from her back. He walked forward and took the weapons with a shake of his head.

"Hedges is gonna kill you," he commented, looking at the guns.

"I don't give a shit," she said quietly, and King looked up at her. He thought she had been joking but when he saw her he knew different. Max's eyes were transfixed on her hands, and it was then that he really noticed the stains of blood on them. He didn't know whose it was, but he had a good idea. Setting the weapons on the ground for the moment, he took her wrists in his hands and made her look up at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked seriously, staring her down.

"No, I am so fucking far from okay," she replied honestly, her eyes filling up with tears again. "Whistler's dead. He's dead, and Blade is…why me?" she asked, pulling back from him and putting space between them. "Why did I get out? How the fuck did I get to be so damn lucky?" she asked bitterly.

"I don't know what you want me to tell you, babe," he replied seriously, shifting on his feet as he observed her, hugging herself and unconsciously spreading the blood on her clothes.

"Just don't ask me what I'm thinking, okay? I can't handle it…"

"What do you want me to do!" he shouted helplessly. "I'm gonna help you and Abby get Blade out! That's what you wanted, isn't it?" Max remained silent, her eyes set firmly on the floor. "What do you want from me, Max? I can't do anything unless you talk to me, so talk to me! What's wrong?"

"What _isn't_ wrong?" she retorted, and shook her head. "Whistler is…_was_ like a father to me, and now he's dead. I mean, if that fucking bitch hadn't…oh, my God," she breathed, ceasing her ranting and anger as she slid down to the floor, leaning against the wall behind her.

"What's wrong, babe?" King asked worriedly, rushing over to her. "Max, baby, what's wrong?" he repeated, kneeling in front of her, hands on her knees.

"It's my fault. It's all my fault," she told him quietly, her eyes filling up with tears. That was one thing that King had never seen, and it frightened him. "Those fucking cops never would've found us if it wasn't for me. I was so damn stupid!"

"Max, what the hell are you talking about?" he asked in confusion.

"We were followed back to the docks," she told him. "We must have been! That's the only way they would've found us!"

"That makes absolutely no sense and is impossible," he told her slowly, though she could tell he wasn't so sure about the truth behind his statement. "You and Whistler are always so careful. Blade, well…he's, uh…well, he's Blade." Max smiled at his poor attempt at humor.

"I know you saw the news report, the video of Blade and I killing that Familiar," she stated, her eyes boring into him, and he nodded. "I should never have gone back into the city with Whistler. My face was bound to be all over the tabloids and it was! Whistler bought one and it had all three of our faces on it! How could I have been so fucking stupid?"

"Max –"

"I killed Whistler! I killed him, and I got Blade caught! It's _my_ fault! Mine!"

"No, it's not," he said forcefully, taking hold of her shoulders. "Listen to me!" he shouted at her, and she looked him dead in the eyes. "It is _not_ your fault that Whistler is dead. Hell, the old man knew he was gonna die soon anyway! Whistler gave up his life to give you the opportunity to get to us, so we could get Blade's head out of his fucking butter knife –"

""Butter knife"?" she interjected with an amused smile.

"Yeah, that stupid sword of his. He really needs a weapons upgrade. Look what it did for you," he explained, and she chuckled lowly. "Anyway, Whistler died so we could finally open up Blade's eyes, and we're going to do that just as soon as we rescue him from those fuckers."

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" she asked with renewed confidence, but the guilt still lingered. Max rose to her feet with King's help and started for the door when he grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop. "What? Come on, we gotta go!"

"Yeah, but, um, babe, remember what you came in here for?" he asked, and her eyes looked around the shower then down at her body.

"OH!"

P.S.: Four pages total.


	15. Party Crashers

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

I'm ashamed to admit that I've had this fic finished for quite some time. Months actually, perhaps even a year. I put off posting the rest because I wanted to get to writing the sequel, which I have. It's not much, but it's a start. Between college and countless laptop failures, I actually had to buy a new one entirely after the sending the first one back four times, and I even had to send the new one back as well! Anyway, I apologize. While I haven't been posting, or doing much writing, I have spent the past couple weeks reviewing and editting my stories. Anyway, there's still another ten (eleven if you include the epilogue) chapter left but I figured I'd let y'all read these first.

_Sleeping Refuge_ went through a massive overhall and the newly editted chapters are up and running now, and I have the third and final part written out in script format. _Everything Comes Full Circle_ is also written out to completion in script format. _Dum Spiro Spero_ is also written out in script format, though the last three episodes remain to be written out as I haven't seen the finale yet and have to rewatch the two before that. _Uninvited _I have, once again, written out in script format but not the finale as, once again, I have not seen it. Sad but true. I'm not sure if I'll continue _Livewire _or not, that decision is still up in the air but I do have a couple chapters written out that I plan on posting sometime tomorrow, same with _Covenant: Abomination._ I will more than likely be discontinuing _Infinity_ and _Keelhaul Connie_, while not being discontinued, will probably be completed in a series of one-shot like chapters instead of full-fledged chapters. With all these fics I have, I know exactly how I want them to end but I just don't have the time or freedom I once had to write them anymore. It sucks, but that's life, isn't?

Anyway, enjoy the rest of this story and, fingers crossed, keep your eyes peeled for the sequel with Marcus, Chase and Shen in Detroit!

**Chapter 15: Party Crashers**

The group of hunters sat in Dex's van a few blocks away from the front of the police station. They dressed in the usual comfortable hunting clothes, but with some extra protection underneath: a bulletproof vest for King, and bulletproof sports bras for Abby and Max. All specially made by Hedges, and designed by Sommerfield. King, unlike Abby and Max, had an extra special something on him. A stick on nametag, which read, "Hello, my name is 'Fuck You'."

All four were waiting and watching until they saw the sleek black limo pull up. Asher, Danica, and Grimwood exited the expensive car and entered the building, followed by four vampires dressed as orderlies. The vampire orderlies were carrying a straightjacket, various restraints, and a collapsible transport gurney. The three and a half hour wait paid off.

"All that for Blade," Max commented as they watched the vampires disappear inside the building. "Now I _really_ feel totally unappreciated."

"Don't worry, sugar butt. Maybe we'll take some of those restraints home with us," he told, wiggling his eyebrow suggestively. She smirked at him, shaking her head in amusement while the others did so in disgust.

"Enough screwing around, kiddies," Dex said jokingly but firmly. "Get your asses in there and get the big man out, got it?"

"Yeah, Dex, we got it," Abby replied in amusement. "Just don't forget who the leader is here, and whose driving the getaway van, all right?"

"Don't you worry, boss lady," he replied, "I know my place. I am perfectly happy letting you crazy ass white folks go off and get yourselves killed while I sit in complete safety here, in my baby," he explained, rubbing his dashboard affectionately.

"Nice, man," King replied sarcastically. "I'm really feeling the love."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Now, get your asses out of my ride, and I'll come get you when I see cops and hear sirens. Good luck!"

"Dex, have you ever considered going back to the real world as a motivational speaker?" Max asked as Abby and King climbed out.

"Yes, many time," he replied sarcastically. "Now get going, sparky!" Max rolled her eyes at the nickname and jumped out the van, closing it as quietly as she could to avoid drawing attention to them.

"Okay, where to now, boss lady?" she asked Abby as they walked closer to the building, sticking the shadows and the alleyway.

"The roof," she said simply, leading them even further into darkness.

"And how do you propose we do that, O Masterful One?" King questioned curiously. Abby stopped dead in her tracks, and turned to look at him with raised eyebrows. King looked at Max, who wore the same facial expression with crossed arms. "I'm sorry," he said immediately. "Please, don't hurt me."

Both girls shook her heads, and looked at one another wearily. Abby moved her left arm up to a pole above her head. She yanked on it, and pulled down an access stairwell. Both King and Max looked up as Abby started climbing. The ladders went all the way up to the roof, all fifty-plus floors.

"Damn," King breathed, looking up. "Can't we find another way in?"

"No," Max told him as she pushed past him and started climbing.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Really sure?"

"Yes."

"Really, really sure?"

"KING!"

"Coming!"

* * *

"How long are we going to watch this bitch?" Max asked King conversationally as they stood in the office that held Blade. They were looking through the one-way mirror as Danica circled Blade like a hawk.

While Danica and her posse had gained entrance past the desk sergeant with fake hospital IDs, they had successfully sneaked in through the roof, silently killing or knocking out anyone that got in the way. Abby was waiting three halls over, keeping as many civilians away as possible. Max and King, however had broken into the office as soon as the two policemen left. They weren't familiar, so they got to live, for now. As they waited for Abby's signal that things were going south, they waited and watched as Blade was put in a straightjacket. Blade thrashed madly as this went on, and the vampires just laughed at him, enjoying it.

"Just a little longer," he replied.

"Why?"

"I wanna see what Kitten does."

"Oh, of course. How foolish of me not to realize," she retorted sarcastically, scoffing.

"Oh, don't be jealous, sugar butt," he told her seriously, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer. Max just looked up at him and knew he was teasing as he grinned at her. "You know you're my favorite."

"Is that why you're such a pain in my ass?" she questioned jokingly, her eyes going back to the conversation in the other room.

"In more ways than one," he retorted suggestively.

"Is it just me, or are you hornier than usual tonight?"

"I'm hornier than usual. Maybe it's the prospect of kicking Danica's ass," he thought to himself.

"Whatever, but I get to go in first and ash what I can. You wake up B," she ordered firmly.

"No way! You wake him up! He's _your_ partner! I wanna kill the stupid flunkies," he argued childishly and Max pulled away from him, crossing her arms.

"No way! It's my turn! You got to go in first last time," she argued back.

"Okay, okay, fine!" King shifted his gun to his other side and held out his fist. Rolling her eyes, Max did the same. Rock, paper, scissors – that's how Nightstalkers, or King at least, solved their problems. After the traditional three shakes, King won with paper to her rock. "That settles it. This time, I go in first and ash the fucking idiots while you revive your doped up partner, and you go in first while I revive a doped up Abby or whoever next time."

"This is bullshit," she said begrudgingly, pouting. "You so know it was my turn to go in first."

"It's divine intervention, sweetness," he said enthusiastically. "If I wasn't supposed to jump in first, I wouldn't have won. This is a sign, we must respect it."

"Keep talking like that and I won't put out tonight," she threatened. King, chastised, nodded and they both trained their eyes on Danica.

"_Don't make this any harder than it has to be,_" Danica told Blade. "_You're all alone, Blade. No one's gonna help you now._"

"Who the hell are you?"

Max and King turned to see one of the vampire orderlies.

"May I?" Max asked her politely, and King just sighed heavily with an eye roll.

"Fine, if you must," he told her, as if it were such a bother, and backed away as she smiled at him.

"Thank you," she said graciously. Still smiling, Max turned to the vampire, who looked utterly confused. Stupid. Danica needed to find better help. Before he could even blink, he was dead with a Sun Dog between his eyes.

BA-BOOM!

The one-way mirror shattered, exploding outward in a shower of glass fragments. The body of one of the vampire mental health flunkies was carried through with it, ashing in mid-air as he sailed into the room. Seconds later, King vaulted through the blown-out window, simultaneously drawing two high-tech electronic pistols. Behind him, Max waited to jump in, with her newly repaired guns strapped at her thighs. King was going to get to do the killing for starters and she was the back up, as agreed and planned. But Max knew that nothing when as planned.

"Evening, ladies," he greeted the group with the usual irrepressible grin.

"HANNIBAL KING!" Danica screeched, enraged as she recognized King instantly.

The light suddenly went out. That was Abby's signal. Almost immediately, the backup lights came on, followed by fire alarms. That, sadly, was also Abby's signal for trouble. King and Max had to hurry. In the ensuing confusion, King aimed both pistols at Asher, who dropped, allowing one of the vampire orderlies behind him to take the hit and turn to ash. But, unlike Blade's victims, he disintegrated from the inside out. That was because of Hedges' Sun Dog bullets. Max just loved the explosive rounds that gave off concentrated UV light. Hedges' was a genius!

As Max jumped onto the floor and ran to Blade, King whipped around and fired at Danica, who leapt behind the table. She quickly upended it, using it as a shield while flinging it at King. He ducked and fired off his gun again to kill another orderly, and Max pulled out the inhaler Sommerfield made with one hand and a gun with the other.

"Wake up, B," she ordered forcefully, injecting the serum for him. "This is your rescue!"

Blade shifted his weight, trying to break his arms free from the handcuffs as Max and King fired off rounds, back to back. Blade suddenly kicked out and up, connecting with Asher's mid-section, and sent him flying backward – straight through the wall into the next room.

As King tried to get a clean shot on Jarko, neither he nor Max noticed Danica slip out. Behind her, the last orderly was ashed by Max, and the handcuffs holding Blade down started to break off. King, unable to shoot the walking diaper stain, ended up having his guns knocked away and pushed into the wall. Max had been hauling Blade up from the ground at the time, and nearly dropped him when she saw King being strangled.

"Hannibal!" she cried out fearfully, but he just gasped and shook his head at her as he continued to hit at Jarko's massive shoulders.

Blade, growling, looked up from the floor to Jarko and sneered. Pushing himself away from Max, he strode over to Jarko and beat the shit out of him until King was free, gasping and sputtering on the floor. Max dodged Blade and Jarko's fight and slid over to King, checking him over quickly.

"You all right?" she asked fearfully.

"Just peachy-fucking-keen," he replied. "You see that? I had him right where I wanted him, and the big guy just had to take all the fun out of it." As Max looked up, she saw Jarko fly through the same wall as Asher. Blade took a deep breath and looked at the two of them as they stood up once again.

"Let's go," he ordered and walked out of the room purposefully, ignoring the annoying alarm and blinking lights.

"Well, he's just a big bowl of fun, ain't he?" King asked her as he grabbed his discarded gun.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," Max commented, and King nodded breathlessly.

P.S.: Five pages total.


	16. The Great Escape

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 16: The Great Escape**

In the hallway of the station, the group of three moved into the neighboring corridor. Cumberland and Hale had just rounded the corner when they spotted the trio. They reached for their weapons, but King was quicker and fired into the room behind him. Max proceeded to pull out a grenade secured to a bandoleer, and tossed it through the doorway. An explosion rocked the interrogation room, filling the corridor with smoke, and knocking back both Cumberland and Hale.

King looked over at Blade, eyebrows raised, a smile on his face, and arms wide open. He was looking for approval, but Blade just shook his head and walked off in the opposite direction. King's arms dropped to his side as he frowned and looked at Max. She just shrugged, ruffled his hair, and took off after Blade. King sighed and put his gun back in his holster, and headed in the opposite direction. Each of the three hunters were fighting the weak and pathetic cops that came after them, knocking them into and, in Blade's case, through walls.

They different hunters continued down their separate corridors until they met up when the halls joined. They were suddenly attacked from behind and while Blade was finishing off the last one, King turned and saw Abby engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a half-dozen uniformed officers. Three of them were already down and, in seconds, she finished off the other three. Much like Max, Abby never needed much help when it came to kicking ass against doughboy cops.

"WHISTLER!" King shouted. That grabbed Blade's stunned attention as he knocked out his last cop. Max walked past him, avoiding his eyes and strode towards Abby, who spun around, dispatching the last officer with a kick to the mid-section. She turned her head towards them, staring at Blade a moment. She knew who he though King had been calling. It must've been killing him to be wrong.

"This way!" she told them breathlessly, panting as Max caught up to her and led her to the right.

"Hey, Blacula," King said to Blade, slapping his shoulder with a friendly smile. "You ready to shake and bake?" Blade responded quickly punching King across the jaw with a loud snap.

"Call me that again, and you'll spend the rest of your life eating out of a straw," he threatened. King massaged his jaw with a scrutinizing look before tossing Blade a pistol.

"HEY!" Max called, rounding the corner into the hallway again. "You ladies comin' or what?" she asked impatiently. They soon ran up to her and followed her down the hall Abby had led them through to be their escape.

Even as Grimwood rounded the corner, hungry for blood, with two more vampire orderlies behind him, the group never stopped. Blade fired round after round of explosive bullets, causing Grimwood and the others to fall back and Blade to look at the gun with interest. He looked at Max, who shrugged as if she didn't know anything before all three moved to join Abby. There was more smoke and darkness in the hall, only the emergency lights illuminating the station.

Up ahead, a group of policemen spilt in from a stairwell, armed with bulletproof vests and guns. They open fired, and Blade, Max, and the Nightstalkers retreated into an alcove. It was then that they realized that they were pinned down between the vampires and a group of policemen. As they avoided and dodged gunfire with ducked heads from both sides, Blade simply looked up at the ceiling before jumping through it.

"Hey! HEY! COME BACK HERE!" he shouted up the gaping hole in the ceiling as he cocked his guns, back firmly against the wall. "Where are you going? Where the FUCK is he going? This is supposed to be a rescue!"

"We're pinned down!" Max shouted, informing both of them of the direr situation than Blade disappearing on them.

"We can't shoot around corners," King reminded Max, and both looked pointedly at Abby.

"I can," she said confidently, smirking at them.

As King and Max lay down as her cover fire, Abby reached behind her and withdrew a device that she always had secured there. She gives it a snap and it sprung open, taking the shape of her futuristic compound bow, her baby. Hedges had crafted the bow from aluminum. Its limbs were imbedded in key positions with vibration-dampening modules. Her bow was capable of firing an arrow upwards of three hundred feet-per-second.

After quickly unzipping up one arm length glove and zipping up the other, Abby withdrew a silver arrow with a time-delay explosive tip from her quiver, knocked it in her bow, and takes aim at a fire extinguished mounted at the end of the corridor. As the arrow went to work, King dove to around the corner and fired at the human officers from the ground as Max did so against the wall.

She let her arrow fly, and it banked off the side of the fire extinguisher, just as planned. It continued down the side corridor where it embedded itself in the shoulder of one of the vampires. The vampire screamed in pain, a joyful sound to the three hunter's ears, before he grabbed the shaft and ripped the arrow out. The vampire watched as the tiny "egg-timer" dial on the arrowhead spun and clicked in place. A red light came on, and the arrowhead exploded, catching all three vampires with the full force of a UV blast. Grimwood ducked away from the blast just in time as the other two vampires turned to ash.

Max, King, and Abby went racing out of the alcove, not looking back. They soon reached a stairwell where Muzak could be heard playing throughout the lobby. It was empty as they ran down the stairs, completely sterile clean and empty. The trip was still armed as they rushed outside of the station and into the night. The, sadly, was still station gated and flashing police cars were surging through the mouth of the gate. If they had been able to go out the way they came, they would've done it a long time ago, just to avoid the welcome party.

"Okay, we're fucked," King commented seriously as he looked around, lowering his guns to his holster.

"We're fine," Abby retorted, moving to stand between King and Max, each hunter staring down their own wall of officers.

They were trapped, and they knew that it would take a miracle to get them out there alive, not to mention without some serious injuries. Then, a loud was heard from above and everyone, even the officers, looked up. A window on the third floor of the station exploded outward, and Blade dropped three stories before landing before Max, King, and Abby in a cat-like crouch. His sword was in his hand, and he didn't have a mark on him, or even look phased by the drop.

"Forgot my sword," Blade said shortly by way of explanation, and King just nodded with a shrug.

"Is he epic or what?" Max asked with a smile, hitting Abby in her stomach with the back of her hand.

The police closed in around them, over the initial shock of Blade's entrance, and pinned the quartet down with firepower. Yet, Max, King, and Abby seemed unconcerned because headlights were soon washing over them. The familiar beefed-up, 1970s Land Cruiser was screaming up the street before jumping onto the sidewalk, smashing right through the gated wall. When the van screeched to a stop between the hunters and the police cars, Dex leaned out his window and gave a little wave as the rear doors popped open.

"My name is Dex. And I'll be saving your ass this evening," he greeted cheekily. "Let's go!" The group quickly scrambled into the back on the van.

Dex punched his ride into reverse, backing out the way he came. The police from the squad cars were firing, but the van was cleverly armored and the bullets harmlessly sparked off. In the backseat, Abby looked through the rear windshield to see Grimwood running after them, actually gaining on them.

"Well, if he isn't chewing up the asphalt like a cheetah," Max commented mirthlessly.

"Abby," King said shortly, and she nodded.

Abby leaned out the rear window, knocking a non-UV arrow in her bow this time. She took careful aim at Grimwood, let the arrow fly, and smirked as the arrow sunk into Grimwood's eye. He went down, his somersaulting figure quickly receding into the distance as the van sped away. Safe for the moment, King basked in the adrenaline rush of the well-fought battle, wrapping an arm around Max's shoulders. Meanwhile, Abby was detaching her bow, and Dex was on a cell phone.

"We got him. We'll be there soon," he said calmly and hung up, glancing at Blade briefly before keeping his eyes on the road.

"So," King began leisurely, looking at Blade, who sat in the front next to Dex, seriously, "my entrance back there, what do you think? Too flashy? Right on the money?"

Blade suppressed the urge to hit him in the jaw again as he was distracted, unbuckling his combat harness. Beside King, Max started doing the same thing, and both were revealed to be wearing their usual bulletproof vests beneath. Only, this time, they were riddled with imbedded slugs. Max locked eyes with Blade briefly and, even behind his sunglasses, she could tell that he was giving her a dark, questioning look.

"Who the hell are you people?" Blade asked simply.

"Well, my name's Hannibal King," he replied, and nodded to Abby. "And this little hellion right here is Abigail." Abby stared back at Blade with silent appraisal, looking back her with a scrutinizing eye.

"Whistler's daughter," he stated, turning around in his seat to face front with a sigh.

"Blade," Max began, looking at him seriously, "King, Abby, Dex, a few others, and myself, we're all part of Whistler's contingency plan," she explained.

"You knew about these rookies?" he asked dangerously, and she nodded without preamble.

"Bet your ass I did. Whistler knew you'd need more help later on, B, so he sent me to them," she explained. "I've been working with them for the past seven months. They're the ones that have been giving me all my new weapons," she told him, patting the guns strapped to her side affectionately. King reached into his pocket beside Max, and pulled out a pack of gum. He selected a stick, as did Max, before he offered one to Blade.

"Juicyfruit?"

P.S.: Four pages total.


	17. Clash of the Hunters

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 17: Clash of the Hunters **

The Land Cruiser rocketed away, disappearing into the night. Dex expertly, and safely, moved them across the abandoned lot towards the weed-choked ruins of Luna Park, the old amusement park. Blade looked out as they passed by the skeletal remains of a roller coaster, a tilt-a-whirl, and the vandalized and wood-rotted remnants of a carousel. Finally, the Land Cruiser turned towards a motorized loading door in the side of a large warehouse and disappears inside.

Inside the warehouse, as the door grinds closed, the Land Cruiser pulled to a steady stop. Max, King, and Abby led Blade through the darkness, each one not looking at him or saying a word. In the gloom, Blade could clearly see half a dozen vehicles in various stages of being retrofitted with armored panels and weaponry. Not to mention the surveillance cameras that were mounted above to track the progress, and anyone who entered the chop shop.

"I thought the vampires killed Whistler's family," Blade stated, deciding to open the conversation with the question that had been burning in his mind since that hallway at the police station: Who the hell is this girl?

"They did," she replied, turning back to look at him. "I was born later out of wedlock. After the murders happened, he kept me hidden. He wanted me safe, away from all of this," she explained, gesturing around the headquarters. "But I guess hunting just runs in our blood."

As King, Abby, and Max led the Daywalker towards a stairway, Blade caught sight of five-year old Zoë, peering down at him from atop one of the rafters. As soon as he spotted her though, she ducked away into the safety of the shadows. The quartet soon reached the stairway, and the automated guns mounted on swivel arms locked on them with infrared targeting beams.

"When I came of age," she continued, "I tracked my Dad down; told him I wanted in. Been doing it ever since," she finished, shrugging as if it weren't a big deal. But, to Abby and anyone else that knew her in the Nightstalkers, it wasn't.

Blade simply nodded and followed them to enter a sprawling industrial facility that was equal as part mechanics shop, firing range, and laboratory. That was just what Max had seen when she first arrived, and she knew that this was just one level of the headquarters. She looked back at Blade and caught him eyeing the virtual arsenal of new weaponry and medical equipment, including Sommerfield's DNA sequencers, microphages, and electrophoreses. The new equipment was fighting for space alongside the old.

"Welcome to the Honeycomb Hideout," King told Blade and, while he was joking, he didn't even crack a smile. He was too tired right now.

"How do you bankroll this operation?" Blade asked as he looked around, semi-impressed with what he was seeing.

"I date a lot of older men. Internet porn. See, we're using cock suckers to pay for the blood-suckers," King replied, and Blade stopped walking to look at him in annoyance. "Come on, man! I'm joking! This isn't some piddly little hoopty-ass operation, Blade. We take our jobs very seriously," he said off of Blade's look and they began walking again.

Somehow, Blade found that hard to believe.

Up ahead, Hedges and Sommerfield paused in their work as King and Max approached and Dex fell in behind them. As the two technical geniuses of the Nightstalkers saw that Blade was with them, one paled and the other simply smiled. Blade looked them over and concluded that Hedges was the engineer of the group, probably always lost in his own world, like Cam had been. The frail looking woman he knew right away was blind due to her glasses and the computers with the Braille keyboard behind her. The computers, in fact, as Max learned later on in the beginning of her work with the Nightstalkers, actually operated via a voice-synthesis program. It helped her to realize that he

"You met Dex. This is Hedges and Sommerfield," Max introduced, gesturing to them in turn. Blade saw that they were all refugees in one way or another, sharing a common guardedness, their lives having been shattered by the vampires in some way. He understood then why Max was working with them behind his back. She identified with them.

"The runt you saw earlier is Sommerfield's daughter, Zoë," King added, nodding behind Blade, where he turned ever so slightly to see the girl in the shadows. "We call ourselves the Nightstalkers."

"Sounds like rejects from a Saturday morning cartoon," Blade replied, and Max lowered her head with a shake, disappointed. But, then again, what the hell had she been expecting? Hell, she'd said the same thing!

"Well, we were gonna call ourselves the Care Bears, but that was taken," King retorted calmly, crossing his arms as Abby walked past. She was ridding herself of her weapons – bow, arrows, silver stakes, and knives – and handed her compound bow to Hedges.

"Tiller needs adjustment," she told him.

"I'll run it through the bow press," he replied with a nod, and walked away to do just that. As he did so, Hedges was trying very hard to ignore Blade's examination of some of the equipment he'd been developing with Sommerfield.

"How many of you are there?" he asked.

"Enough," King replied. "We operate in sleeper cells. When one goes down, a new cell activates to pick up the slack."

"Consider us your reinforcements," Dex told him with a proud smile, arms crossed as he stood lazily next to Hedges.

"Sorry, never been much of a team player."

"Ain't that the truth," Max muttered, but Blade heard her and sent a look her way. She backed off, arms raised in defense.

"I don't think you understand, Blade," Sommerfield told him seriously. "Whistler meant for us to help you. When he died, he activated an emergency protocol. All his knowledge," she explained, gesturing to the computer equipment around her, "was transferred to our servers here."

"What, you amateurs are supposed to be helping me? You? Look at you. You're kids. You're not ready to roll with this! I mean, look at the way you dress," he added, pointing to the nametag on King's combat vest. "What is that? "Fuck You"? That's supposed to be tactical? What the fuck is wrong with y'all? You think this is a fucking joke? You think this is a fucking sitcom?"

"Okay, first off, that's just rude. Second, I'm pretty sure we saved your ass back there," King told him patiently.

"_You_ saved _me?_" Blade questioned him before wrapping his hands around his throat and pretending to be choked, just like King had been at the station when he saved him. "Hmm, I'm impressed."

"Look, Blade," Abby began, "my father meant for _us_ to help _you_. Like it or not, we are all you got."

"What the hell makes you think you know anything about killing vampires?" he asked, looking to Max for a concrete answer. Max just turned away from Blade and looked at King as he stood straighter. She knew what was coming.

"Well, for starters," he said, pulling the rim down lower on his hipbone to show his glyph. "I used to be one." Blade looked over at Max, but she just looked at the floor from her place beside King. "Do I pass the audition?" he asked in a mocking, sinister tone, his eyes never leaving Blade's.

"Rookies," was all Blade said.

P.S.: Three pages total.


	18. Digging Up the Past

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 18: Digging Up the Past**

That night, after Blade had conceded to an explanation as to why he had to stay with them, King and Max walked off to a set of computers. She sat down, straddling a chair, as he started tapping at a few keys on the keyboard. Blade, Abby, and Sommerfield soon followed as Hedges left to fix Abby's bow and Dex went to get some shuteye. The rest of the group gathered around King and Max, watching at images began to pop up on the computer screen.

"You know the kind of woman that just _screams_ trouble? You see her and every warning bell in your brain starts going off but still, you manage ask for her number? Well, that's all I ever hook up with," he said to Blade, earning a smack in the gut from Max. "Except for the lovely Maxine here, who _does_ scream quite loudly on some occasions," he corrected, earning a sick look from everyone. "But this Betty, whoa! She blew 'em all away in the shitstorm sweepstakes."

King reached out to the keyboard once again, and called up a piece of surveillance footage on a nearby monitor. The footage featured Danica, Asher, and Grimwood. It was slowed to a near standstill until it advanced frame by frame.

"Her name is Danica Talos. You met her earlier. And, unlike typical vampires, her fangs are located in her vagina," he joked grimly, but when all he received was silence and blank stares, King cleared his throat. "Moving on! The man on her left is her brother, Asher." King typed a command, and the image switched from Asher to zoom in on Grimwood. "And this walking diaper stain is Jarko Grimwood." King froze the footage on Danica's grainy, pixilated face, fangs bared at him.

"I picked Danica up in a bar, and spent the next five years playing hide-and-go-suck as her little vampire cabana boy," he explained. "Eventually, Abigail found me, Sommerfield managed to treat me with a cure, and now I kill them." Max looked up at Blade and saw him nodding ever so slightly. "And that's basically turning a frown upside down."

"We need to pool our resources, Blade," Abby told him before anyone could even groan at King's pun.

""We"?" he echoed incredulously.

"Yeah, _we_," she reiterated firmly, trying not to lose her temper. "He's come back." Blade just looked over at Max, waiting for an explanation to Abby's serious tone. In reply, Max nodded to King, who nodded right back.

"Take a look at this," King told him and tossed a _Tomb of Dracula: Lord of Vampires!_ comic book over to Blade. He glanced at the cover, and then looked at their serious faces incredulously.

"You gotta be kidding me."

"He's real, Blade," Max told him seriously and walked over to a display case that held one of the most important historical artifacts to the know world. As she turned away from it, she saw that Blade had followed her. "This is a piece of his armor," she said, handing him a piece that was yet to be added to the growing display. "With it, the gang here was able to extrapolate a basic idea of what this fucker looked like. Dig beneath all the movies and myths, all the layers of bullshit that have cluttered our culture for the last five hundred years, and eventually you'll strike the truth."

"So the movies are true?" he questioned incredulously, putting the piece of armor back on the table and crossing his arms.

"The movies are just a comforting fairytale compared to the real deal. There's no happy ending with this guy. Peter Cushing isn't going to run in at the last second and save the day with a cross and some holy water," King replied, shaking his head and looking back at the comic book. "See, good old Bram Stoker, he wrote a nice yarn. But the events he described in 1897 were only a tiny piece of the mosaic. The _rea1_ Dracula's origin goes back much earlier than that."

"How early?"

"Try six or seven thousand years," Abby answered.

"Dracula's only one of the names he's gone by," King began, more pleased when he saw how astonished Blade was. "The Babylonians worshipped him as Dagon, and now they call him Drake. If you believe the legends, he was born in ancient Sumeria. Nobody really knows the specifics of his origin. But we do know this: he was the first of his kind. The patriarch of Hominus Nocturna. Every vampire – every single monster that's walked the earth since then – owes their existence to him. He was _born_ perfect. He's like the Patient Zero of evil. The original Serpent in the Garden of Eden. And, just like the great white shark, this guy has _never_ had to evolve.

"Scour the history books, read between the lines, and you'll find countless references to him. Always mentioned, never named. Forget the movies, forget the books. There is _no_ happy ending with this guy! He's been there, moving behind the scenes, cutting a bloody fucking path through the Ages until suddenly," he cut off with a snap of his fingers, "just like that, he up and disappeared. About a century ago the trail went cold. Then we heard a rumor. The vampires were searching for him, trying to find the place where he'd retreated. And, according to our information, they found him in Iraq about six months ago. And he was pissed."

Sunlight was just starting to slice down through the skylights, bathing the hunters in warmth. Zoë has joined them, clutching to her mother's side. She was still cautious and shy, but she was also curious.

"Why wake up Drake now?" Blade asked.

"That's exactly what we've been trying to figure out," Abby told him.

"When I was under the fang," King began, "there used to be talk about some kind of vampire "final solution". But I could never figure out why they'd want to destroy their food source. I mean, it makes no sense, right?"

"They vampires have always had plans for the human race, B," Max told him. "You know that, and Whistler knew that. It seems likely that whatever they're cooking up, Drake's return is a part of it." Blade just nodded, pensive and tense at the mention of his mentor.

"Let's face it," King continued, "we are fighting a losing battle. So we kill a few hundred of them a year. Big deal! There are _thousands_ of them out there – maybe _tens_ of thousands! We need a new tactic."

"Like what?" he asked skeptically, but Max could tell he was getting curious. Not to mention interested.

"A biological weapon," Sommerfield announced, and moved to type at her Braille keyboard. On a nearby monitor, they saw a real-time magnified view of a virus replicating. "For you sighted people, here's a little show and tell. For the last year, I've been working with synthesized DNA in order to create an artificial virus targeted specifically at vampires. We're calling it Daystar."

"Think about it, Blade. We could wipe them all out in a single move," King baited.

"So what's been holding you back?" It was there that Sommerfield sighed solemnly.

"We've tried it on a number of captive subjects. We've got the disease vector worked out fine – it's easily transmittable. But the lethality in vampires is still spotty."

"Bottom line is, we need a better DNA sample to work with," Abby reiterated simply for the non-biochemical geniuses in the room. "We need Dracula's blood."

"Vampire DNA is a hodge-podge of different genes, mixed in with all sorts of useless junk DNA. Because Dracula's the progenitor of the vampire race, his DNA is still pure. It hasn't been diluted by a hundred generations of selective mutation. It still has all the necessary cellular compounds for the virus to code to. We get his blood, we can boost Daystar's viral efficacy to a hundred percent," Sommerfield explained confidently.

"All the vampires go bye-bye," King explained in his own special way. "So, can we just go ahead and sign you up for a Nightstalkers secret decoder ring?"

P.S.: Four pages total


	19. Making the Plans

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 19: Making the Plans**

Blade had followed King, Abby, and Max into the Nightstalkers armory later that day. All four hunters stood before a table where Hedges' assortment of weaponry and ammunition had been laid out on display. Hedges was there himself, assisting them, as Zoë watched from a far corner. Both King and Abby had told her that it was safe for her to get closer to Blade, but she was still precautious around him, like she had been with Max when she first arrived.

"Oh, wow. Holy shit," Hedges breathed when he saw Blade. "Okay! So, gentlemen and hotties," he began, nodding to each party, earning amused smirks from the women. "We've got a wide assortment of ass-kickery for your viewing pleasure today." It was then that he hefted up a pistol. "Electronic pistol. Comes with a variety of tasty rounds, built-in fingerprint security system. Fires a three-shot burst in 1/500th of a second. Bullets can also be triggered remotely."

King suddenly tossed Blade a bullet. He studied it, and saw that it was more complex than a standard round. In fact, he noticed that it was one of the same rounds that Max had started using. At least now he knew who her supplier was.

"Explosive rounds?" he asked, tossing the bullet to Max, who caught it easily.

"Yeah, but with a concentrated burst of UV light instead of your standard hollow-points. I call 'em Sun Dogs," King explained and turned to Hedges. "Hedges, super-size me, sweetheart." Hedges shook his head in amusement, but still tossed King one of the four-barreled firearms. On the stock was an irreverent decal of the mud-flap girl silhouette. "This little peashooter - a modified version of the Army's Objective Individual Combat Weapon. Pick your poison: Sun Dogs, stakes, heat-seeking mini-rockets. Whatever gets you hard, this puppy will pump out," he explained crudely. As he set the gun down, he gestured to Blade's sword. "Of course, it doesn't have the range of a sword, but…"

Hedges groaned quietly at King's sarcastic comment while Blade glowered at him. Meanwhile, Max smacked King in his gut again. He looked down at her, mouth hanging open like a fish. She simply quirked an eyebrow at him, and he nodded his head apologetically to her. He seemed to have forgotten that she once fought with a sword, and that it was sitting on a display in the weapons lab. Next, Hedges showed Blade the UV Arc that Max had played with months ago. Another one of Abby's favorites.

"Over here, we call this the UV Arc," he said, giving the device a twist. Over the past seven months, Hedges had made advances on the arc since Max had first seen it. His plans to make it more compact had worked and the device was now extending from either end, telescoping outward until the concentrated UV laser resonated between the two connected tips. "You hold the Arc in the center, curved away from you. Connecting the tips is a powerful UV laser beam. Because of its high focus –"

"Hedges, I'll take it from here," Abby interrupted, and he gratefully handed the device over to her with a smile. Abby turned to Blade and smile, performing spins and tricks for him. "This bad boy half as hot as the sun, and cuts through vampire flesh like a knife through butter."

"We're still trying to sort out fact from fiction when it comes to Dracula," Max interjected, bringing everyone back to the subject at hand as Abby closed the Arc up and gave it back to Hedges.

"Turning into mist? Kinda doubt it. But general shape-shifting? Maybe," King added.

"Not into a bat or a wolf or anything like that," Hedges offered off of Blade's skeptical look. "But another human, with practice, someone with the same approximate body mass, might be possible. You see, he wouldn't have a traditional skeletal structure. Probably something more like a snake, with thousands of tiny bones in the place of a normal array. Commensurate with this would be an exquisite control of electrical potential across his tissues, resulting in an ability to effectively change shape at will."

"I actually have a question about that," King interrupted from behind him with a raised hand. So, thinking this was true, Hedges turned to look at him seriously. "Have you _ever _been laid?"

"Many times," he replied, and turned back to look at Blade with a look that clearly said, _this is what I have to live with._ "With ladies."

"More to the point, boys," Max stated wearily, "we've got a lot of work to do if we're gonna figure out what Drake and the rest of the fucking vampires are up to. So, I have a crazy idea. Tell me if you like it. I say we go on a hunt."

"You can't hunt for the Gnome King's men in the day time," Zoë reminded her from the shadows, and Max smiled at her.

"Of course not, sweetie," she agreed, walking past Blade to Zoë. Max picked her up and held her against her hip as Zoë wrapped her arms around her neck. "We're not gonna hunt those mean Gnome men," she assured her, using Zoë's nickname for vampires from the Oz books. "We're gonna hunt Familiars."

"Not a bad idea," Abby commented, and Max put Zoë on the ground. She completely missed the way that King smiled when he saw her holding Zoë like she was her own child. He thought it was a good look on her – motherhood, that is.

"More specifically, we hunt the Familiars that are under the Talos family's control," Max continued as soon as Zoë had left, her tone going back to serious.

"I knew I was dating a genius," King said to himself, nudging Hedge's tauntingly. "That's my girlfriend."

"Yes, I know," Hedges replied solemnly, annoyed by the fact that King just had to rub that in his face.

"I suggest we rest up for now, eat, and then go out before sunset. Once the sun's gone, we're gonna lose the Familiars completely," Max explained, and Abby nodded.

"I agree. Let's get some shuteye," she said to everyone, and her eyes fell on Blade. "Some of us need more rest than others."

P.S.: Three pages total.


	20. Good Day for Hunting

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 20: Good Day for Hunting**

It was later that morning that Blade, Max, King, and Abby, newly suited up for war, left Headquarters. It was as they moved towards Dex's Land Cruiser that Blade decided it was time to set down the ground rules of hunting Familiars. Max already knew them, but, like him, she had made the mistake of killing one. He didn't want that again, not with King and Abby. They simply couldn't afford it, not with the new information he had on Drake.

"Time to apply some pressure," he told them seriously. "The weak link in the vampire chain of command has always been their Familiars. Vampires can't go out in the day, so they get humans to do their dirty work for them. Blood-running, safe house maintenance, whatever." It was here that the girls climbed in back of the van while Blade sat in the passenger side and King drove. "We bleed the wanna-be vampires, they'll lead us to the real thing."

As King nodded and started the van, Blade looked back at Max and Abby. Max was loading and cocking her guns with the Sun Dogs. As usual, she was so focused on the task at hand that she didn't notice Blade's eyes on her. Abby was exactly the same way. She had her laptop on her knees, and was in complete focus and concentration as she assembling an MP3 playlist for her iPod. King saw this, and decided to fill the big guy in.

"She's making playlists. She likes to listen to MP3s when she hunts," he explained as both girls continued to ignore them. "It's like her own internal soundtrack, you know? Dark-core, trip hop, whatever kids these days are listening to these days. Me? I'm more of a David Hasselhoff fan, you know?"

"Don't lie, King," Max said from the back. "You know you love Alanis Morissette."

Finished, Abby slipped her earplugs into her ears, turned on her iPod. As her music raced through her ears, King drove off into the city. The group of hunters cruised the city that afternoon. In Max's opinion, Blade, when King wasn't driving, seemed to enjoy Dex's ride a little too much. He was making the Land Cruiser jump curbs and screeching to a stop in front of scuzzy bars. He missed his Charger, and that was obvious to only her. Amidst the various walls covered with graffiti and flyers that they had seen, they could also see the vampire glyphs.

Whenever they would get to a new location, things would start with Blade kicking the front door open. A couple of lowlives would then take notice of the intruders. Blade would move around, opening refrigerators to usually find packs of blood inside. One of the lowlives would then take off running, back past the bathroom, shouldering a door at the rear only to stumble right into Abigail's arms. She would trip him up, swinging him around, and pin an arm behind him. She would then check him and find a glyph. The familiars would always be squealing, struggling to get away while begging not to be hit again or hurt anymore.

It went that way all day in various vampire safe houses. The group must have gone into half a dozen underworld dives that included a pool hall, an Internet café, and an electronics repair shop.

All were fronts for vampire operations, featuring back rooms with refrigerated blood and high-tech coffin-like beds where the vampires could safely sleep through the day, unmolested and under the somewhat comforting protection of their Familiars. In each new location, Blade, Max, King, and Abby resorted to old-fashioned strong-arm tactics: head butting, punching, kicking, and death threats. If things went as far as having to smash their heads against walls, car hoods, pool tables, into windows, and garbage cans then that's what they would do.

The bullying moves came faster, until they finally had a hit.

Blade tossed a skinny familiar, Hoop, off a four-story roof. He was screaming, but jerked to a sudden stop about twenty feet down, dangling upside down. Hoop had a rope tied around one of his ankles, courtesy of Blade, who was clutching the other end of the rope. He hauled Hoop back up, but still kept him dangling upside down. On either side of the Daywalker, Max, King, and Abby looked on.

"Eventually, you know your head's gonna pop off," Blade informed Hoop annoyingly. They had dropped the Familiar about four or five times.

"FUCK! Oh, Jesus, please, please –"

"Who's your handler?" Blade questioned furiously.

"I don't know my fucking handler, I swear I –"

Having had enough, Blade looked over at Max before preparing to drop Hoop again. She looked just as annoyed as he did. Just as Hoop was about to fall, a cell phone suddenly rang out. Blade looked over at Abby, who shrugged. His eyes turned to Max, but she shook her head. He should've guessed that, and turned to King. It had to be him, but he just shook his head and shrugged, looking back over the edge. There was only one person left: Hoop.

"Oh, it's you!" Blade commented over the ledge with mock sweetness. "I'll take that. Let's go, come on. Give it here," he ordered, and Hoop started to fish through his pockets. "Come on, come on! Hurry up! Hand it over!"

As soon as the phone was in Blade's hands, he read the caller ID and saw that Edgar Vance, number 555-5631 was calling. Dr. Vance was the psychiatrist who gave Blade the mental evaluation at the police station. He was a familiar as well. This only angered Blade even more as he answered the phone and heard the good doctor's voice.

"_Hello. Hello? Hello? This is Dr. Vance, you paged me?"_

"It's for you," he called down to Hoop, who looked up in confusion as Blade started to pass the phone down to him. "Yeah, go ahead." When Hoop held the phone to his ear, Blade let dropped him. The Familiar lunged four stories, screaming his head off until he landed dead center in a Goodwill box below. Before Hoop even hit the ground, the foursome was already walking away towards the Land Cruiser.

"You know, one of these days, you might want to consider sitting down with someone. You know, have a little share time? Kick back, get in touch with your inner child, that sort of thing? Also, jut a thought, you just might want to consider blinking once in a while," King told Blade, who stopped walking and slowly turned to look at him. Abby and Max did the same thing, although Max was more amused by the situation. "I'm sorry. I, uh, I had a lot of sugar today."

"Don't apologize, babe. He's always like that. Besides, I like you on sugar," she told him, kissing him sweetly on his lips.

"Hmm, now that is the kind of sugar I like," he mused, a smile playing on his lips. "Can I get more if I'm a good boy?"

"And if you're a bad boy, too," she replied, walking off faster. Max looked over her shoulder at King, who smirked before chasing after her playfully.

"They always like that?" Blade asked, watching Max and King poke and kiss one another playfully as they walked towards the van, King's arms wrapped around his girlfriend's waist.

"Yeah, pretty much," she replied with a smile. "You get used to it after awhile," she assure him.

"He's changed her," he stated seriously.

"What do you mean?" she asked confusedly, looking over at him.

"She's gone soft," he clarified solemnly, shaking his head as he started walking again.

P.S.: Three pages total.


	21. Drake

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 21: Drake**

The hunters stood outside a high-tech office complex surrounded by meticulously groomed grounds. A sign with a swanky "Vance Institute" logo loomed overhead as Blade, Max, King, and Abby approached, taking note of Vance's Jaguar, complete with a vanity plate, parked in front. The trio soon entered the lobby, drawing stares from a number of patients gathered in the reception area. Nearby was a large display with Vance's grinning face. Beneath it, it read: Edgar Vance, M.D. President of Vance Institute for Whole Being. Nearby was a bank of monitors showing a snazzy video featuring a beautiful young couple marveling at a sunrise.

"_Regain control of your life. Wake to a new dawn. At the Vance Institute for Whole Being, we believe in an integrated approach to human health,_" the narrator on the monitors droned peacefully.

The image cut from the couple to Vance himself, poised on the edge of his desk, smiling. As Blade and company moved through the Institute, the video played counterpoint to their progress.

"_I'm Dr. Vance. Welcome to our facility. As a member of the medical profession, I want to assure you that I will do everything in my power to provide you with the care and compassion that you deserve._"

Past the receptionist desk were the elevators with more monitors showing the video greeting. As the quartet approached, two security guards moved to intercept them.

"Excuse me, can I help y –"

CRACK! Blade effortlessly tossed the guards aside, sending them crashing into the nearest monitors. The trio continued into the hallway, as a doctor stepped out of a doorway. King proceeded to punch him in the face.

"_What does it mean to be human? Since the dawn of creation our ancestors have asked ourselves that question._"

They rounded the corner into a second hallway, nearly colliding with two more security guards. Blade was about to take them both out, but Max quickened her pace to save that pleasure for herself.

"_The modern world today is filled with countless challenges. In every direction we look, toxic stressors are impacting upon our happiness. We think we're healthy, but the truth is, our immune systems are engaged in a life or death struggle to maintain our well-being._"

Blade looked at Max, eyebrow quirked, but she just shrugged with a smile. He simply shook his head and led the way again. Blade, Max, King, and Abby stormed into the outer office of Vance's personal office. As soon as they entered, an executive assistant was moving from his desk to stop them.

"I'm sorry, but you can't –"

Abby suddenly shot out and kicked the man's knee, then sliced her hand into his windpipe, silencing him.

"_Now, I'd like to take a moment to explain how a series of remarkable new breakthroughs can immeasurably improve the quality of your life._"

Blade aimed his shotgun at the door leading to Vance's office, and fired at the keycard lock. He kicked the down the door, startling Dr. Vance himself inside his office. He was rising up from behind his desk, wiping his mouth. Max shared a look with Abby, who was also looking at Vance oddly. He wasn't dressed like a doctor would normally be, but the men hardly noticed this as the shake down began.

"What…?"

"Payback, Vance," Blade growled in way of explanation.

Blade aimed his shotgun at Vance's head, completely prepared to kill him. It was only when he noticed that Vance was simply smiling, seemingly unconcerned, that he hesitated. He knew he shouldn't have, but he did. With Max next to him, her own guns out and ready to fire. Meanwhile, Abby and King circled around the other side, getting a view behind Vance's desk where Vance's body lay on the floor, his throat ripped out and doctor's clothes covered in blood. Abby looked at King confusedly, but he put it together first. Reaching for a silver stake, King felt his pulse race as he tried to remain calm.

"Jesus, it's him! Abby, it's Drake," he announced, his panic getting the better of him.

The Vance double jumped atop the desk and swatted the muzzle of Blade's shotgun aside, re-directing the blast to shatter a glass window instead of his head. He then kicked Max in the chest, knocking her clear across the office, followed by Blade, as King advanced angrily. The Vance double's face warped, the bones in his head shifting around as he reached for King. The double slammed him onto the desk, twisting the stake from King's hand, and brutally shoved it into his shoulder, pinning King to the desktop.

As he whirled around to engage Abby, he shifted back into his true form. Drake now stood before Abby, and for a moment she was frozen. Drake backhanded Abby across the face, a teeth-jarring blow. She spun and fell to the ground, and Drake moved like a hurricane, leaping through the shattered window. Blade rose quicker than the others and immediately gave chase. He looked out the window to see Drake landing on the ground, some three stories below, without a mark on him. Blade didn't even both to check the others before jumping out of the window and follow him.

"SHIT!" King cursed loudly as he struggled to break free from the desk. "A little help here, ladies!"

"Hold your horses, baby, we're coming!" Max snapped, rising to her feet shakily, a hand on her head. She felt like she was spinning as she stumbled over to him. Abby joined her a moment later.

"You hold him and I pull," she offered calmly, and Max nodded, placing her hands firmly against King's shoulders. He groaned in pain as she did this, cursing under his breath.

"You could at least pretend to be gentle," he growled through clenched teeth.

"On the count of three," Abby told both of them. "One," she began, taking a firm hold on the silver stake with one hand while pressing the other against King's back.

"Two," Max continued tentatively, and Abby quickly pulled the stake out.

"AHH! FUCK ME!" King shouted painfully as the women dragged him off the desk and propped up against the wall. "What the _fuck_ happened to three!"

"Don't get lippy, baby," Max ordered him gently, smirking at him. "The stake is out, and you're fine."

""Fine"?" he echoed incredulously, hissing as he took a deep breath. "Jesus, it hurts. I wanna be a Vampire again," he stated, and both women had to smile. "Fuck! Did you see that guy! We're gonna lose, man. OH, GOD! We're gonna FUCKING lose!"

Abby ignored King with a shake of her head and cut open his shirt. Max pressed a hand against the wound, making him hiss in even more pain. She had to stop the bleeding somehow. Even if he was in more pain by her applying pressure to the wound put King in even more pain, she would do it to save him. No matter how much he tried to convince her that he was fine. Meanwhile, Abby moved her hands to her belt and removed a small aerosol canister.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," he said, stopping Abby as she moved the canister towards his wound. "What are you doing? What's that?"

"Fibrin sealant foam, it's an elastic protein. It's gonna stop the hemorrhaging," she explained before turning to Max telling her to help her spread the wound open. Max remembered this little invention of Sommerfield's. The foam was meant to seal the hemorrhaging in the body cavity from within.

"Okay. Is it gonna hurt?" he asked painfully, sounding a bit like a child.

"It's gonna sting a little," she replied, lying brilliantly through her teeth.

Together, Max and Abby spread the wound apart. This only brought King more pain as he breathed hard, trying to fight back the pain. Abby stuck the tip of the canister into the wound and triggered the dispenser, spraying a jet of compressed foam into it. The foam condensed into an orange blob, sealing the wound up.

"OH! _FUCK_ ME! OW!" he shouted in excruciating pain. "Hey, hey – what'd the one lesbian vampire say to the other?" he asked them quietly, his eyes starting to close.

"Shut up, King," Abby told him, pulling the canister out of his shoulder and placing it back on her belt.

"See you in twenty-eight days," King and Max said at the same time.

"Oh, you already know that one. It's a great one, isn't it?" he asked, his voice trailing off as he passed out.

"This shit is really starting to get out of hand, Abby," she stated, looking over at her seriously.

"I know, but Sommerfield's almost completed Daystar. It'll all be over soon."

"Hope so."

P.S.: Four pages total.


	22. Aftermath of an Ass Kicking

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 22: Aftermath of an Ass Kicking**

Later that day, Blade, Max, and Abby entered Nightstalkers headquarters. Blade and Max were hauling King between them as Abby opened the door and called for help. Dex and Hedges immediately rushed to meet them, relieving them of King. Exhausted and covered in blood, Abby retired to her room, stripping off her clothes to take a shower.

"Well, that was a total fucking waste," Max commented, watching as Dex and Hedges patched up King. "Drake got away, and we didn't learn a single fucking thing."

"Yeah, we did," he replied, correcting her previous statement.

"Oh, yeah? What?"

"That he'll be back." With that pleasant note, Blade walked away.

"Oh, great. Just fucking fantastic," she mumbled.

"How is he?" Abby asked as she came down the stairs, freshly changed and hairs soaking wet.

"I think he'll be okay. He won't be able to hunting with us again for a bit, but I think he'll be fine," Max told her calmly, but worried nonetheless. Abby could tell that she was concerned about King, and whether or not any permanent damage had been done.

Both women walked over to Blade and waited until Dex and Hedges left with encouraging smiles to enter. He was going to be just fine. Walking into the room, they saw King drowsing on a cot, his shirt off and his shoulder patched up and bandaged. Walking around to his right side, Max took his hand in hers and smiled as he opened his eyes. He smiled briefly at her before looking around and saw Blade at the doorway with Abby behind him.

"Hey, Blade, I gotta a question for 'ya," he began seriously. "Say we're successful. Say we wipe the vampires out. What happens then? You ever ask yourself that? I mean, I don't…somehow I don't picture you teaching karate at the local Y," he joked weakly, staring at Blade, who just turned around and left as if nothing had happened. "He hates me, doesn't he?"

"Yeah," Abby replied, walking over to his left side with a smile.

"No way, he's just…Blade," Max told him, not really sure how to describe the Daywalker.

"Whatever you say, sugar butt. Whatever you say," he replied, closing his eyes with a deep sigh. "So, which one of you is gonna play nurse maid and give me sponge baths while I'm recovering?" Max and Abby shared a looked, and Abby just shook her head in amusement before walking out. Standing up, Max kissed King's lips gently and he opened his eyes to look at her.

"I am," she told him, and he smiled at her before pulling her down for a more passionate kiss. "Is that payment for services rendered? I haven't even started working yet."

"No, that's a down payment. The real thing will come later, when I'm back at full strength," he replied, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Max smirked, and kissed him again.

"Get some sleep," she told as she walked to the door. "I'll be back later."

It was in the lab that Max found Blade and Abby. They were there with Sommerfield and Hedges, consulting on what had happened, and on what little information they had uncovered.

"So basically we're in an arms race. They're using Drake's DNA to build themselves a better Vampire," Hedges summed up.

"And we need his blood to kill them," Blade concluded with a nod to Hedges before turning to Sommerfield. "How's this weapon of yours coming along?"

"We're almost there," she replied, and gestured to a series of ampule-like prototypes. Max was almost certain she'd see the completed version of the device later on. "The virus is harmless to humans. So we decided to go after the vampires' food source. The one thing we know for sure about vampires is that they have to drink blood. If we manage to pull this off, we'll be able to contaminate every blood source on the planet. They won't have anyone left to feed on."

"Doesn't do us any good if we don't have time to finish it," Abby stated pointedly. "We can't just sit here. We need to take the battle to them." Sommerfield lowered her head, thinking.

"If the Vampires are trying to isolate the hereditary factor in Drake that makes him immune to sunlight, they'll require certain kinds of laboratory equipment and provisions. For instance, there's an enzyme called Taq Polymerase. And there are only a limited number of suppliers," she explained. "Give me a few hours. I'll see if I can't hunt us up some leads."

* * *

Max had followed Blade that night to the storage area. She was used to seeing him inject himself, and he didn't seem to mind her watching. He used the pneumatic injector Sommerfield had made him, and looked down at the device in silent wonder. Unlike the needles that he had used before, there was no pain and no violent spasms. His body simply accepted the serum without a fight.

"Why do you do that?" Max looked over and saw Zoë sidle up next to Blade, watching him in fascination.

"There's something bad inside of me. This keeps it from getting out," he explained as simply as possible, and Max was a little shocked at how kind he was to the child. After all, Blade wasn't exactly the kind of guy you pictured with kids.

"Why can't you just be nice?" she asked.

"Good question," Max mumbled to herself, knowing full well that Blade had probably heard her.

"Because the world's not nice," he replied.

"Come on, Zoë," Max called, walking over to the odd pair. "Let's go get you something to eat, huh? And then Blade and I can go see if your mommy has any leads for us. That sound good to you?" Zoë nodded and waved bye to Blade before taking Max's hand and following her to the kitchen.

"Max," Zoë began quietly as Max made her a sandwich, "is King going to be okay?"

"Yeah, sweetie. King's gonna pull through just fine," she told her with a smile, setting a sandwich in front of her and running her hand through the child's soft hair.

"Is Blade going to stay with us?" she asked.

"Oh, um, I don't know, sweetie. If he wants to, I'm sure we can make room," she replied, knowing that Blade wouldn't stay, but she didn't want to crush the girl's hopes. It was then that she realized how odd the question was. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I like him. He's nice," she said simply. Just hearing those words made Max smile a bit. A child thought that Blade was nice? That was both funny and frightening.

* * *

"I think I've got a lead," Sommerfield told them later that night in the lab. She stood at her computers, reading a tactile Braille display. Blade, Max, and Abby were nearby, waiting patiently. "Biomedica Enterprises. They've been buying up all sorts of supplies – Taq Polymerase, bone marrow growth supplement, genetic sequencing enzymes."

"You want a party favor?" Hedges questioned, looking at Abby.

"Hollow sevens, silver points," she told him simply.

"Done," he replied, walking away to do as told rather proudly.

"You ready to go?" Blade asked, turning to Max.

"I'm not going," she replied simply, unconcerned. This earned her an odd look from Blade. "I'm gonna stay here, with King," she elaborated. It was those words that made Blade pull her aside.

"What the hell is going on with you? You're getting soft, Max," he stated to her, as if to warn her about something.

"I…I love him, Eric," she replied, ignoring the scowl he sent her way for using his real name.

"Saying things like that'll get you and the people around you killed," he warned her seriously, knowing it was true from personal experience. "You're young. You don't even know what love is."

"Like you do!" she countered hotly. "I know I loved Whistler. He's the one that sent me here, Blade. He introduced me to King, Abby, and the others behind your back _months_ ago. He trusted me to put you on the right path, just like you did me. You need them, Eric."

"I don't need them," he argued.

"Oh, I think you do. I think you need them more than you're willing to admit."

"I don't need them," he repeated. "I don't need anyone."

"I guess that means you don't need me either," she retorted, testing the waters.

"You're damn right I don't need you," he replied. The shock and hurt that Max felt faded as she kept on her calm, cool exterior.

"Then why'd you save me?" she questioned, and had to bite down a smirk when she saw Blade falter. He didn't have an answer. "I'll see you when you get back, and we can talk about ending this "partnership" since you obviously don't want me around anymore," she told him, and turned to walk to the infirmary and King. "Happy hunting," she called over her shoulder.

P.S.: Four pages total.


	23. Backlash of an Ass Kicking

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 23: Backlash of an Ass Kicking**

"Hey, sweetness, would you do me a favor?" King asked Max.

Max had done exactly as she said and stayed behind with King while Blade and Abby went out to investigate Sommerfield's lead. She stayed in the infirmary the whole time, watching Star Trek reruns in Spanish with King. Although she hated the cheesy show, she loved making up lines with King.

"Sure, babe, what do you need?" she asked, thinking he might need some painkillers or something along those lines.

"Could you go to the kitchen and get me a fruit rollup?" he asked, smiling charmingly at her as she gaped at him. "Please?"

"The things I do for you," she sighed with a smile on her face.

"Thanks, sugar butt, you're the best," he told her, but Max just rolled her eyes and kissed him chastely.

"I'll remind you of that when you look at another woman," she called over her shoulder jokingly.

As she walked down the stairs and entered the storage area, Dex and Hedges were engaged in game of one-on-one of basketball. Hedges couldn't get around Dex, so he passed the ball to Max, who caught just in time and shot it. She missed the hoop, making Hedges groan and Dex laugh, telling him that's what he got for cheating. Max just laughed, and walked into the kitchen, grabbing the snack that King so desired.

It was on her way back that she decided to make a pit stop.

She walked up the stairs and over to the lab and saw Sommerfield working, refining the virus and reading aloud to Zoë, who sat on her lap, at the same time. Max always thought it was cool that, even though she was blind, she could still create some great things. Her computer's voice synthesis program had been activated, so that definitely helped her. It was currently reading the various statistics that appear on her main monitor. Max didn't even notice Whistler approaching through the garage on the surveillance monitors.

"Hi, Max," Zoë greeted, interrupting her mother.

"Hey, sweet pea," she replied, smiling at her and ruffling her hair affectionately.

"_Computer cytogenetics audit data from August 15, 2004,_" the computer droned. "_Amniotic fluids – input delay: zero. Abnormal samples: two. Banding quality: 7.2._"

"Still on The Emerald City of Oz?" she questioned, noting the Braille filled book that Sommerfield was scanning with her fingers. Zoë nodded, and Max just chuckled. "Have fun you two. Don't stay up late," she said to Zoë before looking seriously at Sommerfield, "or work too hard."

"Don't worry, Max," Sommerfield told her with a bemused smile. "Zoë's going to bed after this chapter."

"I meant _you_, Sommerfield," she replied, and walked over to the computer.

""The reason most people are bad is because they do not try to be good"," Sommerfield continued reading. ""Now, the Nome King, having never tried to be good, was very bad indeed. Having decided to conquer the Land of Oz and to destroy the Emerald City and enslave all its people, King Roquat the Red kept planning ways to do this dreadful thing, and the more he planned the more he believed he would be able to accomplish it"."

"_Computer cytogenetics audit data from August 15, 2004,_" the computer repeated, reading out a new set of stats.

As she headed back towards the infirmary, she didn't notice that lack of noise from the storage area. She didn't even realize that the laughter of Dex and Hedges had died out. All she could think about was King, drowsing on his cot peacefully. He'd probably even be asleep by the time she got back, and her little walk to get him the sweet snack would've been a waste. As she walked into the infirmary, head down as she started to open and unroll the fruit rollup for him, since she knew he'd make her do that anyway, she started to chuckle to herself.

"Hey, babe, why didn't the vampire bite Mick Jagger?" she asked. "'Cause you can't get blood from a Stone."

When she didn't hear the familiar laugh come to her ear, Max looked up and froze. King was sitting up in bed, Whistler stood over him, hand covering his mouth and shoving him down. Whistler was smothering him, and King's struggled had ceased as he closed his eyes and passed out.

"Whistler!" she gasped, and he turned to face her. She didn't even register what he'd done to King. Max just stood there and dropped the snacks, her hands shaking.

"Hello, Max," he greeted, smiling at her.

"W-What are you…? How are you…? You died," she managed to say, and Whistler nodded as he walked over to her.

"And so will you," he told her, the smile never leaving his face.

As Max opened her mouth to say something else, Whistler's hand shot out and wrapped around her throat. She struggled as he choked her, but she couldn't break free. He continued to smile as he pushed her up against the wall, lifting her off the ground. Just before darkness took over her, Max saw Whistler's face mold and shift into the vampire they were trying to kill.

Drake.

P.S.: Three pages total.


	24. Waking Up in Hell

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 24: Waking Up in Hell**

It was within the penthouse of Phoenix Towers that night that King found himself. As the fog began to lift from his mind, he felt two things. One, blood, both fresh and dried, on his face. Two, a tongue. That was odd. No, that was plain wrong. Max never licked him before, not on the face anyway. And she sure as hell never woke him up that way either. He felt his body stir, and his eyes fluttered opened.

As his body began to wake up, he felt he was still lying down. Only he was lying on his side and not on the soft cot with a blanket up to his waist. No, he was on a hard, cold floor. He was freezing, but then he remembered that he was still shirtless from when Dex and Hedges had patched him up. Then he felt something even stranger. Both of his wrists felt odd, as if they were strapped or secured on the ground on either side of him. Now he knew that Max had nothing to do with this. She was certainly not into the typing up bit. Trying to twist his head away from whatever was licking him and heard the distinct sound of a dog growling.

So that's what was licking him!

Wait; when the fuck did they get a dog? And why did they stick it in his room?

"Back off, pooch," he muttered, turning his head further away.

The Pomeranian's jaws opened, revealing more teeth than any dog should probably have. Its muzzle split in two as both sides of the dog mandible folded back on either side of its head, disgorging a hellish and barbed tongue stalk, Reaper style. The mutant dog roared, ready to bite King's face off when King was suddenly wide-awake.

"Jesus Christ!" he shouted, rising as far as he could, to his knees, to get away from the mutant mutt. Asher appeared from out of the corner of his eyes, laughing, and pulling the animal back. Looking around the room, where he now remember the Whistler double smothering him and was very aware that he was a prisoner, he saw Danica and Grimwood in separate corners.

"What the fuck!" he shouted, pointing at the dog. "WHAT. THE. _FUCK!_"

"His name's Pacman," Asher told him cheerfully, picking up the dog. "We've been porting the vampire gene into other species, experimenting," he explained and passed the dog to Grimwood, who started to make kissing noises at as he held it up in the air. The dog looked down at him, panting happily, and tongue lolling closer to his lips.

"You made a Goddamn vampire Pomeranian!" King exclaimed incredulously, completely disgusted and grossed out by the situation. Especially since that dog had been licking him moments ago.

"Yeah. Precious, isn't he?" Grimwood asked, smiling at the dog lovingly.

"Well, that depends on who you ask because, clearly, this dog has a big dick than you," he retorted, making Grimwood scowl as he looked over at him.

"And when the _fuck_ did you see my dick, fuck face?" he asked, moving the dog to rest under his arm as he kicked King in the head.

"OW! I was talking to HER!" he shouted painfully, glaring at the walking diaper stain as he pointed at Danica.

"Poor little King," Danica cooed mockingly as she stood from her chair and walked over to him. "You look so DISTRAUGHT!" she shouted, kicking his face. She leaned over and wiped a little blood from the corner of King's mouth, and touched her fingertips to her tongue, tasting his blood. "You're tasting a little bland, lover. Are you getting enough fatty acids in your diet? Have you tried Lake Trout? Mackerel?"

"How about you take a sugar-frosted _fuck_ off the end of my dick?" he retorted.

"And how about everyone here not say the word "dick" anymore? It _provokes_ my _envy_," she stated evenly and told Asher to bring her chair over for her to sit. "Tell us about Blade, King. What's this weapons he's been planning?" she questioned calmly, leaning back.

"I can tell you two things," he told her, looking between the three vampires with shifty eyes, feigning fear. "One, your hairdo is…ridiculous." Hearing this, Danica immediately reached up to fix her hair, smoothing it out a bit to fix any hairs out of place. "And two, I ate a lot of garlic. And I just farted. Silent, but deadly." Grimwood, not the least bit amused by King's humor, passed his dog to Asher and stepped forward, throttling King for a moment.

"Spit it out, you fucking fruitcake!" he demanded as King started to pull at his hands.

"All right! Fuck, I'll tell you about the weapon!" he choked out, and Grimwood released him, sensing King into a slight coughing fit. "It's a new flavor crystal formula. Twice the chocolaty goodness, half the calories. Plus, it helps prevent tooth decay. There, I said it," he told them seriously. Grimwood moved in to choke him again, but Danica held up her hand to stop him, smiling a bit as she saw King shift away from Grimwood.

"You're brave, King, I'll give you that. But underneath all that swagger," she began, leaning closer, and caressing his face, "I know what you really fear, what would hurt you more than anything else." King's cocky smile faltered for a moment as he wondered about Danica. Maybe she actually knew Daystar and her rubbing her cheek against his like she was, all the other little touches, were just torture, things to make him crack. "You don't want to go back to being one of us," she said, looking at his glyph, "do you?" King tried to turn his head away, but Danica gripped his chin, turning his head back. He was sweating now, starting to get seriously worried. "I'm going to bite you again, King," she told him threateningly. "And I'm going to leave you here while you turn. I'm going to watch you day after day as the thirst keeps building and building. And then, when you can't stand it anymore…"

It was here that she cut herself off, banging the legs of her chair on the steel floor. Her eyes were locked on King's as they widen as the sight behind her. Drake walked into the room, his left hand holding Zoë's right and his right arm wrapped around Max's waist. While Zoë had a brave face, he could see that she was terrified. Max, however, couldn't hide her fear at all. Drake stopped walking and moved Zoë to stand in front of him, one firm hand on her shoulder. Max stayed at his side, his hand moving up to caress her throat. King clenched his fists as he saw her cringe and reach to hold Zoë's hand, holding it tightly. My God, how he wanted to kill every bastard in that room without a pulse in that moment! Max and Zoë were held firmly in Drake's arms, only God knew what was happening to them, and he couldn't do anything because Danica wanted to play. Stupid bitch.

"I'm going to bring that little girl and your partner in here, for you to feed on," she told him, whispering in his ear. "Would you like that, King?" she asked teasingly. "Would you enjoy taking their lives?" Danica leaned back and smiled proudly as King shut his eyes tightly, sickened at the thought. She finally broke King. She finally knew his weakness. "Now we're getting somewhere, my pet," she said, leaning back with satisfaction.

P.S.: Three pages total.


	25. Talking with Death

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 25: Talking with Death**

Drake sat before Zoë, who was sitting quietly in Max's lap. The older woman had her arms wrapped safely around the little girl she was slowly growing to love as her own daughter with each passing minute that they were in Phoenix Towers. Now they were shackled to the floor of Drake's quarters. He sat before them, face blank and calm, his right arm encased in one of the armored gauntlets from his burial armor while the rest of the armor had been propped up on a stand nearby.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked Zoë calmly, staring straight at her.

"You're the Gnome King," she replied, remembering what her mother had read from the Oz book about the Nome King, who had never done any good. Drake was the same way. He actually seemed amused by her choice and smiled at her.

"Ah, "The Gnome King"," he repeated. "How sweet," he told her. His smile quickly faded though as he leaned closer to her. "Tell me, child. Do you want to die?"

"Shut up," Max ordered, tightening her hold on Zoë, who remained defiant.

"I'm not afraid," she replied. "I'll go to Heaven."

"There is no Heaven. No God. No angels. No happy ending for good little girls," he told her simply. "The only thing in your future is nothingness. But what if you could change that? What if you could remain a child forever?"

"Leave her alone, you sick fuck," Max demanded through gritted teeth, but Drake ignored her and reached out to Zoë, running a sharp fingernail over her cheek.

"Wouldn't you like that?" he asked the child. "Wouldn't you accept that gift?" Max reached up to push his hand out of the way, but Zoë reached out first and calmly touched Drake's icy cheek.

"My friends are coming to kill you," she told him, and Max smiled as Drake dropped his hand from her with a smile.

"Good girl," Max muttered into Zoë's ear, kissing the top of her head.

"And you?" Drake questioned, moving his eyes away from Zoë's and up to Max's.

Max tried to look away, but his pupils seemed to widen until the darkness nearly occluded the whites of his eyes. Zoë stared at him, unaffected by his eyes, but Max couldn't tear her gaze away. His eyes were hypnotic, and she felt as though she was being pulled into him. No other vampire had done this to her, or made her feel that way before. It had to be that hypnotic stare that Bramstoker wrote about Mina being drawn in by.

Perfect, just fucking perfect.

"And me, what?" she replied a bit shakily, trying to maintain a strong tone.

"You used to be a vampire. I can smell it on you," he stated.

"And I can smell Danica's fucking hairspray and piss perfume all over you," she retorted tonelessly, still trying to break the gaze. Drake smiled as she replied, since her voice wasn't as strong as it was while he was talking to Zoë.

"You gave up immortality once. And for what, the humans? For mortality, pain, death?"

Max frowned, her hold on Zoë loosening a bit. Drake wasn't wrong. Since she'd been human, all she had was death at every turn. It was then that some lackey vampire of Danica's entered the room. At Drake's nod, the vampire unlocked Zoë's chains and picked her up. The little girl called for Max, but she was already too far gone in Drake's hypnotic stare.

"What if you could keep this doll-like face of yours until the sun itself cooled to a cold, hard rock?" he asked, reaching forward and running the back of his fingers over her cheek until he grasped her chin.

"I prefer having a pulse," she replied. "Do you even care what happens to them, to your children?" she asked pointedly.

"They think through me they can become Daywalkers," he replied simply.

"Is that even true?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just see if my night life is going to bleed into my day time."

"Tell about yourself, about your relationship with Blade and the human hunters," he demanded.

"I can tell you two things," she began firmly, still unblinking and voice shaking. "One, touch me or Zoë again, and Blade won't get a chance to kill you. Two, you are so going to die and all your fucked up children with you." Drake simply chuckled.

"We'll see," he replied, slowly moving his hand on her skin and down her throat. It took all of Max's strength not to shiver in disgust. "We'll see."

P.S.: Three pages total.


	26. The Fat Lady

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 26: The Fat Lady**

WHACK!

Grimwood had just landed a hard punch into King's face. His body sagged, weakened from the beatings he's undergone. The fact that Grimwood was using him as a punching bag and that both Danica and Asher were looking on in joy didn't even bother him. The fact that Drake had both Max and Zoe in his possession, that bothered him. He had no idea where they were, what he was doing to them, if they were dead or alive. Grimwood punched King once again.

Yeah, this was definitely not good.

"Ooh, you're gonna be sorry you did that," King told his assailant cockily. Just because he wasn't in a good situation, didn't mean that he couldn't have a little fun. Besides, the real fun was just about to begin.

"Why?" Asher asked amusedly. "Nobody's coming for you, King-shit!"

"Sure they are," he replied confidently, in a vast amount of pain. "God! See, one of the things you fuckheads need to know about us Nightstalkers is that when you join our club, you get all sorts of groovy door prizes, and one of them is this nifty little tracking node surgically implanted in your body."

All of them laughed loudly, not believing him for a second but still finding him as entertaining as ever.

"Bullshit," Grimwood said.

"You see, when one of us goes missing the others, they just dial up the satellite," he told them, and looked at Grimwood before continuing pointedly, "which is in space," he told him as if he was a child. "And then, presto: instant cavalry." The three vampires started to clap, smiling amusedly. "You like that, huh?" He laughed with them. "Go fuck your sister," he said to Asher.

"Okay, King, where is this tracking node of yours?" Danica asked mockingly, walking over to him. If he wanted to play, they could play. Not like it mattered to her; he was going to die one way or another.

"It's in my left ass cheek," he replied, and she scowled at him. Affronted, she slapped him hard, sending his head to the right. "Fine," he conceded, spitting out some blood. "It's in my right ass cheek."

WHACK! Danica slapped King again, this time knocking his head the other way.

"Okay, I'm," he said, gasping for breath, "okay, seriously now. It's in the meat of my butt, just below the _Hello Kitty_ tattoo." Danica proceeded to kick King in the groin and his body sagged, sucking in air. Despite his attempts at humor, he was really hurting now. "Seriously, just pull down my tighty-whities and see for yourself!"

"ENOUGH!" she shouted in annoyance. "It's not funny anymore!"

"No, it's not, you horse-humping bitch!" he shouted, wincing as he took a breath and shocking Danica. She didn't think he'd have the balls to insult her, considering his predicament. "But it will be a few seconds from now. See that tickle in your throat you're feeling right now?"

As soon as he said that, Danica realized that she DID have a feeling in her throat. She started to cough, blinking repeatedly as if her eyes were irritated. She rubbed them and looked behind her to the others. Both Grimwood and Asher were coughing. They were all feeling the same effects as her, and Grimwood was coughing up ash! King lifted his bruised face and stared up at Danica through blood-shrouded eyes. For the first time, she got a sense of his true hatred for her; she could see it loud and clear.

"That's atomized colloidal silver," he told them 's heightened hearing keyed into the rumble and hiss of the air-conditioning system. Looking up, she couldn't see anything but she knew she felt something. "It's being pumped into the building's air conditioning system, you cock juggling thunder cunt!"

King wasn't wrong. Abby had played it smart and did just as King had explained. The clouds of tiny silver particles were blowing into the room from the heating duct. Not to mention that vampires throughout the building were distracted from the burning effects of the silver. The particles were dusting the vampires, being unwittingly inhaled by them and as the vampires reacted, suddenly gagging, their throats and faces were slowly turning to ash.

"Which means the fat lady. Should be singing. Right. About. NOW!"Nothing happened, and the three vampires cleared their throats. They were slowly starting to feel a little better, and looked at King amusedly. "Heh, this is awkward," he commented. "Do you have a cell phone?"

BAM! The skylight above them suddenly shattered as Blade crashed down. He landed in a cat-like stance, and then flipped over into a cartwheel, kicking Grimwood in the face. As Grimwood went down, Danica and Asher scattered out of the room. As Blade tackled Grimwood, sending both of them over the railing into the lower level of the penthouse, King still sat there helplessly and exhausted.

"Um, a little help here?" he called after Blade pleadingly.

Alarms were ringing throughout Phoenix Towers. Danica and Asher rushed down the hall, trying not to breathe the silver-contaminated air. They could see other vampires staggering from doorways, coughing and gagging. Where the hell were supposed to go? The same question entered Drake's mind as he sat in his quarters, watching Max and the returned Zoë. He heard the alarms and reached for his sword, which rested in a nearby stand. As he headed out, he strode past the chained Max and Zoë, petting Max's head as if she were a dog.

"How are we going to get out of her?" Zoë asked Max. "What's happening?"

"I don't know how, sweetie, but I have a pretty good idea of what's happening," she replied comfortingly. "We're gonna stay here for now. Abby or King will come and break us free, okay?" Zoë nodded, and hugged herself into Max's side. "Come on, Hannibal," she whispered to herself, truly afraid for the first time in a long time.

On the lower level, in the Penthouse, Blade and Grimwood were going at it. Reinforcements flooded in from multiple entryways. It was an all-out melee. Blade was seriously overwhelmed, but the sheer number of vampires and humans was actually slowing them down. Taking on a half-dozen of them at once, Blade stunned one of the Familiars, using him as a human shield. He soon tossed him aside to trip up another on-rushing pair. It was here that he paused, instantly calculating the geography of the room, the relative positions of the other combatants, assessing decorations and furniture as possible weapons. His battle plan ready, and Blade engaged his enemies once again.

Meanwhile, back on the upper level, Abby appeared at the lip of the smashed-in skylight. She slowly and carefully lowered herself down on a rope and rushed to King's side. She tried to look positive, but it was hard when more than half your team was dead, one was tortured, and the other two were missing. Things didn't look good, but Sommerfield had done her job and they had Daystar, finished and ready to go. They could do this, if they only knew were Drake was.

"You all right?" she asked, though it sounded like a stupid question considering the way he looked.

"Nothing a hot tub full of Bactine won't fix," he replied jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. Abby had to smile at him as she pulled out her gun and shot the chains holding him down, though a little too close to his hand in his opinion. "Um, thank you?"

"Where are Zoë and Max?" she asked, pulling the chains and freeing him.

"Drake's got 'em," he told her solemnly. He still felt guilty that he couldn't protect them better, but Abby just nodded.

"Brought your toys," she told him with a smile, standing up and handing him a bag with a shirt and his guns. "Try to keep up," she told him, ruffling his hair and heading out the door. A few moments later, a stunned and slightly confused King followed.

P.S.: Three pages total.


	27. The Good News

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 27: The Good News**

In the lower levels, Blade unsheathed his sword and parried two combatants with clubs, and then whirled around, deflecting gunshots from a third with the flat of his sword. Grimwood was furious to say the least, his men tripping all over themselves. Growling furiously, he grabbed an antique battleaxe secured on the wall. He saw an opening and swung at Blade's head, who dropped in time for the axe to slice through one of Grimwood's own men.

In an eye-blink, Blade was up again, advancing on the massive vampire. He was cutting down another familiar, pushing forward, and cutting down even more without a care or second glance until he and Grimwood were face to face. Grimwood swung his axe again, but Blade hooked his sword beneath it, flipping it out of Grimwood's hands. Sweeping his sword around in a wide arc, Blade cut straight through Grimwood's mid-section. The upper half of Grimwood's body toppled away.

But something was wrong. He was still alive, running forward on his hands, trailing viscera! He sprung up at Blade, all claws and gnashing teeth. Blade caught Grimwood by his throat, whirled him around, and manages to impale what was left of the vampire with his sword-point. Grimwood turned to ash in Blade's arms. The only thing left were his steel teeth, which clattered to the floor at Blade's feet.

Abby paused in one of the various hallways, slipping her earplugs in and turning on her MP3 player. The bumping-strains of Fluke's Absurd track kicked in. She unclipped her UV Arc, and telescoped it outward. She moved through the corridors with mathematical precision, feeling the music in her bones, slicing through every vampire she encountered with deadly efficiency.

All the while her face remained blank, taking on the hordes of vampires and human Familiars that continued coming out of every doorway. She would punch one in the solar plexus, decapitate another, and finish off the rest with ease. Quickly moving on, she took down five more vampires with her rapid-fire stake dispenser, throwing stakes with blinding speed.

After a half-dozen stakes, her dispenser was empty. Without missing a beat, she pressed a tab on the dispenser, ejected the clip, and then reached to her belt where a backup was secured and slapped it in place. The mayhem continued even as she found Drake's quarters, entered it to find Zoë and Max chained to the floor.

"Abby!" Zoë shouted happily.

In a flash, Abby flung two silver stakes at the two vampire guards standing nearby. Both stakes hit their mark and the vampires crumpled to ash. After hurrying over to the two, Abby shot apart the locks on Max and Zoë's shackles. Zoë immediately wrapped her arms around the hunter, hugging her tightly.

"Come on, hon. Let's get you out of here," Abby said as she took Zoë by the hand, pulling her towards the door.

"One o'clock!" Max shouted. Abby, without even turning around, quickly killed the vampire behind her with the Arc. "Where's King?" she asked fearfully.

"I don't know," she replied breathlessly. "I lost track of him."

"Fuck!" she hissed in frustration, and then knelt down to Zoë's level. "Zoë, you're going to go with Abby, okay?"

"Here you go, honey," Abby said soothingly, handing her a squirt gun with a mixture of holy water, garlic, and silver nitrate. "You know what to do with that?"

"I remember," she replied with a nod.

"Good girl," she said approvingly, smiling at her briefly before looking at Max darkly. "Let's go. You find King. I've got to help Blade. Daystar's finished."

"First piece of good news I've heard all fucking night. See you two later," she said with a nod, cocking the gun Abby gave her and ran off in the opposite direction, hoping to find King.

P.S.: Two pages total.


	28. Bad Doggies

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 28: Bad Doggies**

"HANNIBAL!"

King looked up at the fearful shout to see Max at the end of the hall. He had just stumbled into the hallway, pulling his shirt back on. Nothing made him happier than leaving the torture chamber. Well, almost nothing. As soon as he saw Max, he sighed with relief. The two ran at one another, hugging tightly before Max pulled back to kiss him fiercely.

"You have a knack for getting into trouble Mr. King," she joked as she situated one of his arms around her shoulder.

"Good thing I have to get me out of it, Ms. Doyle," he replied jokingly, wincing as he limped down the corridor. As they continued to limp, they suddenly heard a growl and paused. Looking in front of them, King saw Pacman turn around the corner. "Fuck me," he whispered depressingly.

"What's wrong with you? It's just a little dog," Max said, looking at him strangely.

"No, it's not. They experimented on it. It's a fucking Vampire," he explained hastily, taking his arm off her to back away down the hall, cautious and slow.

"They made a Goddamn vampire Pomeranian?" she asked incredulously, following his movements.

"Bet your perfectly shaped ass they did," he replied. Max stared at the little dog as well, confused but wary. Her panic started to rise as she saw two Rottweilers emerge behind Pacman, all three growling. "Fuck me sideways!" he cursed under his breath, crouching a bit and staring the dog in the eyes.

"Maybe later, hon," she said, "but I think we should kill all the vampires in the building first."

"Right, I knew that," he replied. "Oh, yeah, who's a good doggie? You're gonna stay. You're gonna stay. Stay," he whispered cautiously, slowly backing up. As soon as they moved though, the dogs opened their mouths with a snarl. "There's pretty smile."

"Don't taunt them, dumb ass!" Max hissed. "They can sense that kind of shit." Straightening up, King looked at the dogs with a sigh and pointed behind him.

"I'm just gonna –"

"RUN!" she shouted, grabbing him by his tank collar and both took off down the hall. The three dogs set off after them, barking like crazy, snouts splitting open as their jaws flowered apart. Hazarding a look back, King saw that the vampire dogs were quickly gaining on them.

Up ahead was a dead-end, just plate glass windows and a whole lot of nothing beyond. The dogs were almost on King and Max when he suddenly grabbed max around her waist and jumped, snagging an overhead pipe. As he swung his body upward, the dogs skidded on the floor, unable to stop their momentum, and crashed straight through the plate glass window. In an explosion of glass, the Pacman and one of the vampire Rottwielers tumbled into the night. They fell like stones, twenty stories down into the traffic-clogged intersection below.

King pulled him and Max back into the hallway, dropping back to the floor. Max was trying to catch her breath, still terrified from the fact that she had just been swinging twenty stories in the air. Meanwhile, beside her, King was cackling, pleased with himself. Max could've hit him, but it took her a second to realize that one of the Rottweilers didn't take the swan dive out the window.

"What's wrong?" King asked, looking at her curiously.

Max didn't have a chance to respond as she pushed King far from her because she was suddenly hit in the chest by the snarling beast. She had dropped her pistol as she was knocked back onto the floor. The dog lunged at her again and, with one arm, Max struggled to keep her face from being bit off. While she was indisposed, King searched blindly for the discarded pistol.

"Max!" he called, locating it and kicking it to her. With her free hand, Max grabbed the pistol and fired into the beast's chest, ashes disintegrating all over her face. Getting a mouthful of the charcoal remains, trying to spit them out as she sat up.

"Bad dog," she said, making a face. Looking over at King, she smiled weakly. King just shook his head and walked over to her, taking her hands in his as he pulled her to her feet.

"Come on, babe, we need to get out of here and get you into a shower," he commented. "You stink."

"Right back at 'ya."

P.S.: Two pages total.


	29. Life Bites

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 29: Life Bites**

In the atrium upper gallery, Abby emerged with Zoë safely behind her. She soon spotted an alcove, and indicated with a nod to Zoë that she should hide there. Before she could run off though, Abby slipped a silver stake into her hand. Just in case. Once Zoë was out of sight, Abby rushed to the handrail, and looked down at Blade and Drake. Her view was obscured and that was very bad: she couldn't get a good shot.

* * *

On the ground floor, Drake was digging his fangs into Blade's shoulder. The Daywalker struggled and managed to slip a stake from his bandolier, slamming it into Drake's ear canal. The beast shrieked in pain, dropping Blade to the floor, who had only succeeded in driving Drake into a berserker rage. He swung his fist and Blade ducked, sending Drake's fist through the wall and puncturing a steam pipe. Drake reached in through the venting steam, and ripped an eight-foot section of the pipe from the wall, bringing a sparking nest of electrical cables along with it. He swung the pipe section around, whacking Blade. KRUNCH! Drake swung his makeshift club once more, becoming a one-man demolition crew, decimating everything in his path. He was smashing holes in the floor, the walls, and plowing through partitions of glass and steel.

* * *

Upstairs, Abby moved down the gallery and looked up at a series of lighting gantries that spanned the length of the atrium ceiling. Balancing on the handrail for a moment, Abby jumped out and caught hold of one of the crosspieces. Looking like an acrobat, or Max when she first met the Nightstalkers, she monkey-swung her way beneath the gantry. She knew if she lost her grip, she'd fall more than fifty feet.

BA-BANG! A bullet struck just in front of Abby, showering her with sparks. More bullets followed, fired from below, trying to pick her off. Suddenly, UV bullets struck each of the Vampires. As they ashed, Abby looked over to see Max and King. Max was carrying King's battered body out onto the upper gallery. Both were shooting and playing guardian angel to Abby, laying down cover fire so she could continue.

"KING!"

Danica appeared behind King and Max raised her gun to fire, but Danica pushed it away before grasping Max by her throat, pulling her off the ground, and throwing her across the room. Max hit the wall hard and landed on the ground, knocked out. King tried to stand up to help her but Danica tackled him, wrestling him to the floor and pummeled his face with her fist.

King tried to ward of f the blows, but he was sorely outmatched. After all, Danica was a vampire, a female vampire, a pissed off female vampire, and he was a man, a weak and severely wounded man. Trying to regain some of his dignity, not to mention the upper hand, he swung his electronic pistol up at Danica. Unfortunately, she twisted it from his grip, ejecting the clip from the stock. King's Sundog bullets spilt out all over the floor. He was in deep shit. He knew it when she tossed the gun aside, reaching for King again.

Back at the lighting gantry, Abby was breathing heavily, trying to call up new reserves of strength. She glanced down – big mistake. Forcing herself to look back up, she tried to forget the immense fear of plummeting to the floor to her horribly painful death. She swung herself pendulum-style, and managed to snag yet another crosspiece as another shot rang out.

Down below, Asher was armed with a rifle. He fired again, grazing Abby's shoulder, who cried out and nearly lost her grip. From the other side of the room, Max was slowly gaining consciousness. With a hand on her head, she started to shake herself back to reality. She heard the gunfire and saw Asher getting trigger-happy on Abby, and Danica kicking King in his gut with her pointed toe shoes. Looking around, she saw that her gun was not far from her.

"No offense, Danica," King gasped in pain as he rolled on his side, "but I've wanted to kill you since the moment we slept together."

"I was that bad, huh?" she asked, not even caring what he had to say. Taking a moment, King reached a palsied hand for his discarded pistol, and pointed it vaguely in Danica's direction. "No bullets in your gun, King," she laughed.

"Yeah, but here's the beauty of it," he told her, wiping his bloody mouth. "These babies can be triggered remotely." King pulled the trigger, and the scattered Sundog bullets erupted with UV light. Danica shrieked, trying to shield her already burning face from the glare. Horribly wounded, she turned tail and ran.

* * *

On the Atrium ground floor, Drake was pummeling the shit out of Blade, flinging his body about like a rag doll. Grabbing Blade by his ankle, Drake swung him upwards some thirty feet – SMASH! Blade collided with the underside of a massive hanging glass lighting fixture. Stunned, he fell back to the ground, dropping his sword. Drake saw this as the opportune moment, and immediately pounced on him. Blade could barely fend off Drake's blows anymore so, in desperation, he dug his fingers into the master vampire's eyes. Drake swung both fists downward, Hulk-style, and shattered an entire section of the limestone flooring in a fit of rage and pain. A shock wave rippled out from the point of the impact, sending waves of two-foot stone tiles flipping up into the air. This little trick also ended up knocking Blade off his feet as he tried to regain some balance.

* * *

Loading up a Sundog into her pistol, Max steadied her aim on the railing she was currently leaning on in the upper gallery. She had crawled her way over to her gun, still disoriented, and climbed her way to a standing position on the railing. Gritting her teeth, she fired at the unsuspecting Asher, and the Sundog screamed across the atrium, striking dead center in Asher's open mouth. As the bullet exploded, UV light caused Asher's skull to burn up from the inside out. It was not a pretty picture as his headless corpse fell forward over the gallery, carbonizing and burning up before it even hit the ground.

Relieved, Max sunk to her knees.

"Maxie!" King called breathlessly, limping over to her side. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, just killed that stupid fucker Asher," she replied, smiling.

"Damn, I was hoping to kill him!" he exclaimed childishly.

"Sorry, sparky, but I can't let you have all that fun. Besides, you got Jarko," she replied. King shrugged modestly, grinning at the fact that he'd taken down the walking diaper stain. "I bought Abby some more time at least but Blade needs help, fast."

"Then go help, babe," he told her, kissing the top of her head as he helped her stand up, "I've some unfinished business with a certain cock juggler we all know and hate."

"Be careful," she warned, kissing him quickly.

"Always am," he retorted, turning to go after Danica, cocking his gun as he went. Max, meanwhile, slipped from the safety of the alcove and made for the stairs.

* * *

It was true that Max had bought Abby more time. Back on the lighting gantry, she was swinging her body forward, successfully hooking her legs over the next crosspiece. Letting go with her hands so she hung upside down, secured by on the tension in her calves, Abby reached behind her to remove her bow. Blood from her wounded shoulder dripped down over her collarbone, reaching her cheek and obscuring her vision. Frustrated, she wiped it away and reached back once more and, because her quiver is pointed downward, a number of arrows slid out. Panicking, Abby twisted her body and just barely managed to snag the Daystar arrow as it tumbled past her.

Exhausted, Abby shut her eyes, trying to find her center as she had hours before she left the Hideout with Blade, just after they'd found everyone dead. With her eyes closed, she cocked the arrow and drew the bow back. Opening her eyes, she realized then and there the severity of this shot.

Drake and Blade were locked in combat below her. She could easily track their progress, and waited for Drake to move into a better position. That was all she could do: wait. She was only going to get one chance, and she had to take the shot of a lifetime while hanging upside down.

Damn.

* * *

Drake shouldered a support column, snapping t in two. This caused an entire section of the gallery walkway above to come crashing down, burying Blade in debris. But that wasn't enough for Drake. More needed to be done to satisfy him. He leapt forward, fishing Blade out of the rubble and hauled him up into two cracking head butts. Blade's eyes rolled to whites, weak and tired as he was dropped to the ground. Looking down, Drake saw Blade's discarded sword and scooped it up. He moved to strike at Blade, to finish him off with his own sword, when Blade managed to roll to the side and avoid the blow.

* * *

Abby was waiting.

More blood had trickled down her neck, into her eyes. But she didn't wipe them away. She couldn't. She had already drawn her bow and was committed to the shot. Nothing could get in the way of that. Her heart was beating and she could feel all her blood pumping into her head as she settled. She'd finally found her center. Taking a final breath, Abby held it as she let the Daystar arrow fly. It streaked downward, hurtling towards Drake at more than three hundred feet per second. Then, at the last possible instant – CHINGG! Drake deflected the arrow with Blade's sword. It harmlessly fell to the floor, rolling a few yards away.

* * *

Drake's attention had quickly left Abby, who was stunned and melting into despair, and he was now plunging the sword into Blade's side. As he pulled it back out, Blade gasped and sunk down to his knees in shock. Roaring, Drake shifted again, conjuring up seventy centuries of violence and perdition. The nightmare shape that was only hinted at before, extrapolated on Sommerfield's computers and theory drawings by the rest of the Nightstalkers, finally took center-stage.

Blood suffused Drake's flesh, turning his skin crimson. His canines elongated, his lower jaw distended. Jagged bone spurs erupted all over his body, like he was growing a suit of razor-sharp thorns. He didn't even need a sword anymore; he had become a living weapon. Drake was gone, only the Beast remained.

Drake swung the sword overhead, ready to decapitate Blade. Just as the sword reached the top of its arc…

"Hey, fuck head. You forget about me?"

Max emerged from the shadows behind Drake, clutching her gun in one hand and a silver stake in the other. Before Drake could even turn around, she shoved the stake into his back, pushing it with all the strength the rest of her body could muster. It wasn't a lethal blow, but it hurt all the same and was enough to make him stagger. As soon as he regained his balance, he turned on Max, enraged and his attention distracted for that one crucial second.

Blade, summoning the last of his reserves, pitched his body forward, managing to snag the end of the Daystar arrow. Before Drake even realized what was happening – WHAM! Blade sunk the arrow deep into Drake's back, and Max stumbled backwards, gun raised at the Beast roared. He dropped the sword and turned to face Blade, who was exhausted beyond measure.

Max knew Sommerfield's work well enough to know what was happening to Drake. Inside his chest, the arrowhead would be dispensing the bio-weapon. The virus would be flooding his internal organs, causing them to blacken and fail as his circulatory system carried the virus throughout his body.

By the look on his face, Max guessed that it hurt like hell. He let loose and inhuman scream, vomiting up a spray of bloody mist. His monstrous features began to melt, reshaping into his human face. All of the blood he's expelled, and all the blood he hadn't, was infected. Each raggedy breath he took had the virus latched onto it; every blood cell was infected and blackened until they became necrotic.

Every vampire still alive, or as alive as they could be, inhaled the virus. Danica, throttling King on a set of stairs, was telling him to give up. He clutched at her hands, trying to pry them off. It didn't matter though. Daystar had made its way through Phoenix towers, and Danica was soon amongst the infected. She started clutching at her throat, gasping for breath as the virus infiltrated her system. Tiny black threads expanded across her face until she swayed and fell back onto the stairs. King had been catching his breath at this point, backing away from her even as she reached a beseeching hand towards him.

"Hold on, Kitten. I'll go get help," he told her insincerely, turning around and walking away from her as she finally died with a stillborn curse on her lips. More vampires around the building were feeling the effects now as well. One by one, they dropped to the ground, choking and going into convulsions. As they writhed in pain on the floor, the Daystar virus ravaged their bodies until they turned to ash.

* * *

Drake slumped against the wall, dying and back to his mortal disguise. Hero and villain were separated by only a few feet with only one thing in common: both were at death's door.

"Well done, hunter. Well done," Drake complimented.

Blade just stared back. At this point, he was just trying to remain conscious since he'd lost a ton of blood. Neither even paid attention to Max, who still had her gun in both hands, raised and aimed directly at Drake. She didn't care that Daystar had worked; she was scared and shaky and was going to keep her gun aimed high until he permanently stopped moving.

"Funny, isn't it? All this time, my people were trying to create a new kind of vampire…when one already existed. I don't need to survive. The future of our race lies with you. You fought with honor," he commended, shuddering as his breathing became increasingly shallow. "I respect that. The humans are coming for you, you know. In their eyes, you and I are the same. So, allow me one last indulgence, then," he gasped, "a parting gift. But know this. Sooner or later, the thirst _always_ wins," he warned.

Eyes still locked on Blade's, Drake grew still and died.

"Blade, you all right?" Max asked. She sighed in relief, eyes closing tiredly as she lowered her gun. When he didn't answer, she looked over at him. "Blade?" she called in a panic, scrambling to her feet and rushing over to him. "Blade!"

Max didn't even notice Abby and King rush into the room, Zoë in Abby's arms. Max knew as soon as she reached Blade and shook him that he was dying, fading fast. She called out to him again, the tears that weren't falling from her eyes though came out in her voice. Blade could hear her though, however distant and muted it was compared to his own fading heartbeat.

"Are you with me, Blade?" she asked fearfully, but he didn't answer. "Blade? Blade!" Silence. "Eric!" she shouted tearfully, her welling eyes obscuring her vision. Blade's couldn't seem to focus on her anymore. His eyes were clouding over and then, without warning, he stopped breathing and his world faded to white. "ERIC!"

P.S.: Six pages total.


	30. The End of an Era

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Chapter 30: The End of an Era**

"Let's get out of here, and fast! Double time, you two," Abby ordered King and Max quickly.

She was rushing around the destroyed hideout like a madwoman. Zoë stood beside the kitchen counter, unsure of what to do until Abby told her to go back up her things. There was no chance of her seeing her mother. Blade had been kind enough to cremate Sommerfield, along with Dex and Hedges.

Blade.

The group had just barely made it out of Phoenix Towers without getting caught. Still, they knew it wouldn't be long until the FBI tracked them down. King was already at the computers like Whistler had done, working on the transfer to the next sleeper cell, which just happened to be in Las Vegas. Max stood still, thinking about everything that had happened. Everyone of her mentors – Snowman, Rev, Whistler, Blade – everyone of her friends – Cam, Sommerfield, Dex, Hedges – everyone she cared about, even Xavier, all of them were dead. The only exceptions were King, Abby, and precious Zoë.

Leaving LA, continuing to fight the good fight, it just didn't seem worth it anymore – not after everything that had happened.

"As nice as this rush to flee the city before the feds come banging on our door is, Abby, I'm gonna have to sit it out," Max stated lightly, moving to lean back against the counter.

"What are you talking about, Max?" Abby questioned, ceasing her movements to walk closer to her friend.

"I'm not going with you guys," she answered simply, bowing her head.

"WHAT!" she exploded, moving to jump on her friend, but King blocked her pushed her back.

"Oh! Oh, I get it! She's joking," King said to Abby, smiling in amusement as he started to laugh. "You're joking!" he exclaimed, turning back to Max. She just looked up at him, face completely blank. "Very funny, sugar butt. Hilarious, my sides are split, and not just from the torture, but now? Really not the time. Now, let's go pack our shit and scram," he told her, gently grabbing her arm to pull her towards their room.

"I'm not going with you and Abby, King," Max repeated, pulling away from him.

"Okay, seriously, you're freaking me out now 'cause you're not laughing with me," he stated nervously.

"That's because I'm not joking," she said seriously, looking between both of them. "I'm not going with you guys."

"You're not joking," King realized and paled, eyes widening. "Abby, she's not joking," he stated, pointing at Max in shock. He looked like he was having trouble breathing.

"I can see that," Abby replied, looking at Max like she was a stranger.

"Oh, please, you guys, don't look at me like that," Max groaned disgustedly, walking away from both of them; she needed to pack. King followed her to their room, Abby close behind. "Don't look at me like I just betrayed you," she said pointedly, violently shoving clothes into a duffel bag.

"Oh, _that_ look," King realized innocently. "Well, I'm sorry if we looked like we've just been betrayed but we basically JUST HAVE BEEN!" he exploded. Max sighed, a hand on her forehead. She stopped what she was doing, and turned to look at her only friends.

"You're pissed, I get that," she reasoned. "Really, I do, but this is _my_ decision, and I've decided to go find Blade."

"We don't even know where Blade was headed, Max," Abby reminded her. It was true, after Drake took Blade's form, Max revived Blade with her own blood. 'Stubborn bitch,' were his first words as he came back and saw Max hovering over him. A few seconds later, he was on his feet and was gone. He didn't even say goodbye, just walked away.

"I know. That'll make the hunt all the more fun," she joked, trying desperately to lighten the situation.

"God damn it, Max!" King screamed in frustration. He could look at her right now, so he turned to the other Nightstalker. "Abby –"

"I'll leave you two alone," she said immediately, nodding a goodbye to Max with a small smile. Abby understood, even if King didn't, and Max was glad to at least have her approval.

"Max, baby," King began quietly, moving to stand over her, "why are you doing this?"

"Because I have to," she stated with a shrug. Wasn't that obvious?

"No, you don't! No, you FUCKING don't!" he shouted, and Max backed away from him slightly. King saw that he'd scared her and immediately regretted his actions. "Max, baby, please, just come with us," he begged, pulling her closer to him with his hands cradling her face near his. "You can go off and find Blade another time, but just…come with us, with _me_, for now. Please, I'm begging you and we both know I look like an ass when I'm begging." Max laughed lightly, and King smiled at her, thinking he'd won.

"I'm sorry, King, but…I can't," she said, pulling his hands off of her and moved back a few steps. "I belong with Blade." King inhaled sharply, trying not to let her see how much she'd just hurt him. Nodding, hands on his waists, he looked around the room, looking for an excused.

"And what about Abby, huh? And Zoë? What about her? You know how the kid is, she'll be crushed," he told her. "What about…what about me? I don't want to lose you, Max."

"You aren't losing me! Stop thinking of it like that," she ordered, looking at him as if he was crazy. Why was he acting like this was the end of the world. "I have to go find Blade, King. I'm all the man's got left!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Whistler's dead, Cam's dead, the Nightstalkers are through, and even though Drake is gone, there is still a shit load of vampires out there. He needs someone with him, to keep him focused, to keep his head straight."

"How are you even gonna find him?"

"Cam said he had a brother, Shen. He lives over in Detroit, working out of a run down shop somewhere. I'm not sure where exactly. Apparently, he's a fucking computer whiz, a real genius. He may be able to help me, or Blade may go join up with him. I'm not sure," she explained, and King scoffed. "I was going to go there at some point anyway, Hannibal. That's where I heard my brother was transferred."

"You can't face him alone," he told her forcefully. "I won't let you. Not after last time."

"You weren't even there the last time," she reminded him.

"That's not the fucking point, Max!" he exclaimed in alarm. "I'll worry about you if you're not around, and that on top of raising Zoë and watching Abby's back is just more stress than I need! There is not enough sugar and black coffee in the world to keep me sane with all that shit!"

"You would worry about me whether or not I was with you!"

"_Also_ not the fucking point!"

Max smiled at him, walking over and hugging him tightly. She felt him sigh and his tense body relaxed, molding against hers as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He held her so tightly, as he was afraid she'd run away as soon as he left her go. In a way, she was but King didn't want his illusion to leave just yet. Max was the only thing in his life that resembled normalcy. He liked that, and he wanted to keep that.

"I'll be okay, Hannibal. You know that," she whispered while running her fingers through his hair.

"Yeah, but what about all your weapons? We won't be able to give you upgrades," he replied logically.

"I don't need them. I'll make do on the shit I've got now," she joked lightly, and felt him smile against her bare shoulders. "It's about time I learned to make my own rounds."

"When are you gonna go?"

"I'm already gone." King sighed heavily as Max pulled back, detaching herself from him. "I'll call, okay? When I'm in a safe, secure spot, I'll call. Hell, maybe I'll even write."

"Yeah, okay. We're, uh, we're going with Caulder to the cell way out in Nevada," he told her. "You got the address, right?"

"Yeah…"

"I don't have to tell you be careful, do I?"

"No, but it would make me feel better to hear it." King smiled at her as she stood, bag in hand.

"Be careful, Maxie," he told her, moving over to caress her face. "Come back to me in one piece, okay?" he whispered, gently knocking his forehead with hers.

""Come back to you"?" she echoed amusedly. "You still love me even though I'm leaving you for another man," she joked.

"You're leaving to find Blade, not screw him," he stated pointedly, but quickly looked down at her in mild alarm. "Right?" he questioned worriedly, and Max nodded reassuringly. "Oh ,thank God," he sighed in relief. Max just laughed at him. "Just promise me."

"I promise."

"Good girl," he said, lowering his head and kissing her with everything he had left in him. "I love you, Max," he whispered, eyes closed and forehead against hers.

"I know, and I…" She had never said it back to him before. It never felt right. What did she know about love? After all, King was the longest relationship she'd ever had at a grand totally of seven months and now, with everything going on, she was leaving. "I love you, too, Hannibal," she whispered, kissing him softly before sidling around him. "See you around," she said over her shoulder, though she doubted he'd heard her.

P.S.: Five pages total.


	31. Epilogue

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own _Blade _or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

**Epilogue**

It didn't take long for the authorities to arrive once we'd gotten out.

When they got there though all of Drake's people were dead. There was just a series of corpse shaped piles of ash and singe marks. What Daystar didn't finish, the sun did. No messy clean up for anyone that way. Gotta love the suck heads for that.

And Blade? Well, Cumberland and Hale finally got their body – but it wasn't the one they were banking on.

The virus didn't kill Blade. Because he was a hybrid, his heart never stopped beating. The authorities very well could have killed him though. Just like they did Whistler, and just like they tried to do to me. So, in the end, realizing that own his people were doomed, Drake decided to give Blade a gift. By taking Blade's shape, he bought me enough time to let Blade feed from me, he bought us enough time to escape. Drake gave Blade a second chance at life.

I haven't seen him since, though I've searched.

He disappeared completely, but that's what heroes do: they simply fade out. And, in this way, they become legends. Blade is still out there, doing what he does best. He was born a weapon, and his life was a war. That's all he's ever known.

But, everybody knows that the war never ends.

Between birth and death there is only one thing: desire. Desire for life. Desire for love. Desire for everything good, the quintessential happy ending. And _this_ is the source of all suffering.

All I desire is to know that Blade, wherever he is, is finally at peace with himself. Maybe, that way, he can finally achieve the one thing he's failed to accomplish his whole life: forgiveness.

P.S.: One page total.

P.P.S: 114 pages total.


End file.
